


Raditz's Return

by Dragoness Eclectic (DragonessEclectic)



Series: Raditz's Return AU [4]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 14:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1270615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonessEclectic/pseuds/Dragoness%20Eclectic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Serialized Novella) Hey, you just can't keep a bad Saiyan down. Not this one, anyway. And eight years in Hell can change even a Saiyan warrior's attitude.. especially when his dead prince seeks him out in Hell and requires a small favor of him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hell

**Author's Note:**

> All my DBZ stories are tied together, so if you haven't read "Why?" and "Welcome to Hell, Son", you might want to. Any alterations from standard reality will be obvious, so--enjoy!

## I. HELL

On the burning plain, a demon paused, sniffing the air. It was a small, wiry demon, barely man-high, with the appearance of a horribly emaciated grey man with huge, round eyes, crooked pointy teeth, and elongated fingers tipped with monstrous claws. Its head swung from side to side, listening, smelling, waiting. 

SWA-KOOM! A rock exploded in a flash of energy! The demon leaped toward the source of the blast, razor-sharp claws extended, chittering eagerly at the sweet taste of soul force. 

Its target side-stepped the demon's charge, and a keen blade lashed out. The demon collapsed as it landed, its feet cut out from under it. It wailed, and futilely tried to ward off the bright blade with its claws. The head rolled, still wailing and gnashing its teeth, until the point of the blade pinned it to the burning plain. 

"Got you! I thought you were never going to come out of hiding, but you just couldn't resist the taste of raw ki, could you?" The demon's would-be victim smirked. He might have been human, except for the long furred tail wrapped around his waist and the immense mane of stiff black hair that flowed down his back to below his knees. 

"Feh. A sword, Raditz? I didn't think you'd fallen that far!" came a contemptuous, familiar voice from behind. 

The tall, powerfully-built warrior answered without even looking behind himself, "The mara is an energy vampire, Vegeta. It feeds on soul force. My blade is as steel; it has neither passion nor energy; it's just sharp." He smirked. "I'd be happy to let you fight it, but then I'd have to clean up the mess." He finally turned, carefully keeping the writhing demon's head pinned with the blade, to look at his former partner and prince. 

"Hmmph! So don't blast it, just hit it." The saiyan prince aimed a vicious kick at the demon's head; Raditz blocked it. "You dare?" 

"The mara drains soul force by touch--yours or its. You really don't want to finish that kick!" Raditz grinned unpleasantly. "He's weak now--I haven't let him feed for days--but you should see him all charged up. Heh. The maras hang around the borderland, looking for mortals whose spirits are wandering in dreams--then they harry them all night, sucking ki out of their souls and giving them nightmares in return. Good for me Earth mortals are so weak; maras can't do much more than look really ugly from what they steal. Too bad for Earth mortals they are so weak--they die or go mad from the life theft if it keeps up." 

Vegeta laughed; a cold, malicious sound. "So blasting the little bastard would make him stronger, would it? And he'd steal my strength if I fought him hand-to-hand? That would be a tricky fight.. an interesting fight! Are there other demons like him?" 

"There are. Why do you think the Saiyajin Demon Guard--my outfit--all carry swords?" He took out a small black stone, and stopped, looking quizzically at Vegeta. "When did you get here? Did you die recently, Vegeta, or am I clueless as usual?" 

"Not much more than a week ago." The short, dark-haired saiyan frowned, and spent some time straightening out his white gloves. "There is a problem--I've already been wished back once with Earth's dragonballs, and no one knows where Namek's dragonballs or the Nameks are. They can't wish me back." 

"I could have been wished back with the dragonballs--funny how that never happened. Sympathy isn't one of my virtues, Vegeta." He abruptly clapped the black stone to the demon's head, and watched coldly as the demon's head and body dissolved into mist and seeped into the stone. 

"I was better off without you," the prince of the saiyajin said coldly, as he turned and walked away. 

Raditz sighed and straightened, demon-stone in hand. "Wait, Vegeta." 

"Why?" 

"I shouldn't have said that. I dug my own grave, and I didn't leave many friends behind. I've no right to complain.." 

"Did you leave any friends at all behind?" 

"One." Raditz smiled to himself. 

"Not me!" 

"Vegeta, you were my prince and I was loyal to you unto death, but you were always 'the strong man who stands alone, above all'. Remember?" 

"Yes, I know. Who--" 

"Nappa. He was a good friend, mentor, and teacher--and he would have wished me back if he'd had the chance. He told me that much." Raditz spoke quietly. "I would have wished him back." 

"Nappa should not have lost to a mere third-class warrior like Kakarott." Vegeta closed his eyes, and half-turned away, the regret in his face belying his callous words. 

Raditz looked at Vegeta, astonished. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then thought better of it. You have changed, my prince. You have changed. 

"I don't have friends here," Vegeta said. "Though my father is.. my ally in this. There's only you, or Nappa, and Nappa--" 

"--is still a bit peeved at you for killing him." Raditz regarded his fallen prince thoughtfully. "When did you ever have any use for friends?" 

Vegeta smirked. "I never had a use for them, but they're a nuisance I've acquired along with my wife and son. However, they're all alive and not here. By the way, how is Nappa otherwise?" 

Raditz just stood there. "Wife.. and.. son?" He blinked. "Wife and son? You have a wife and son?" 

"It does happen--we choose a mate, we have children.. I have heard that such a thing might have happened with our fathers," Vegeta's sarcasm was sharp enough to cut. "Now if you're paying attention.." 

"Oh, you've got my attention. I'm curious as to what amazing thing I'm going to hear next." 

"My wife, Bulma--an old friend of Kakarott's--is alone and unprotected without me. They can't wish me back. I will find a way back myself." 

"That's impossible! You can only go back as a ghost, and only if the way is opened for you..." 

"I could--and I have, briefly--but I mean to go back as myself, not a powerless ghost. I have learned that it has been done before, and if some mere human can do it, so can I!" Vegeta's eyes were wide with excitement and determination. 

"But how? As far as I know--" 

"There are other hells, deeper hells than this. Other pasts, other peoples now forgotten went to them. There are legends of humans and others escaping, or winning their way back to life from those hells." 

Raditz closed his eyes. "Of course. The mythic hells." He opened his eyes again. "You would. You can't resist a challenge like that! You know the way is guarded, don't you?" 

"Of course. I have my father's 'kind permission' to make the attempt; I also have your father's permission for one other thing." King Vegeta, Duke of the Hell of Evil Warriors, had not been overly enthusiastic about his son's proposed quest, but had grudgingly acceded. The occasionallly prescient Commander Bardock, Lord-General of the Legions of Hell, had been enigmatic but cooperative. 

"What?" 

"I don't know how long I'll be gone on this.. quest, but I won't be able to watch over her and protect her while I'm gone. I want you to do that." 

"WHAT????" 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER II. EARTH


	2. Earth

## II. EARTH

"Bulma, why don't you just pack Trunks and yourself up and come stay with us for a month or two?" Chi-chi offered, her dark eyes full of concern. "Please. I have some idea what you're going through, and you need friends now. Come home with me--it'll be so much better with me and Gohan and little Goten and Dad and Goku, instead of rattling around this big empty place alone. I can help you with Trunks, too--he'll have fun playing with Goten."

"That would be nice," Bulma said sadly. She looked up from the picture she clutched in her hands, eyes red from crying. "But.. this is where we were together, and--" the tears started running down her face again. "--everything here reminds me of HIM--" she started sobbing openly, "--and it'd be like leaving him!" 

"Oh, Bulma!" Chi-chi hugged and held her grieving friend. She hugged Bulma tight until the sobs subsided, and gently turned her to look her in the eye. "Bulma, he's not here. You know that in your head, but your heart doesn't want to listen. I didn't want to, when my sweet Goku was gone, and little Gohan was kidnapped, but I had to. You have to, for your sake, and for little Trunk's sake." Chi-chi stood up, and looked down Bulma. "And maybe for his sake, too." 

"His sake?" Bulma looked forlornly at Chi-chi. 

"You think he doesn't know how you feel about him? Wherever he is, he knows how you miss him, and he misses you just as much. But Vegeta's not here. Not now. And you aren't doing him, you or Trunks any good burying yourself in solitude and tearing yourself up like this." Chi-chi put her hands on her hips. "Girl, have you looked at yourself in mirror lately? I'm not sure you've been eating, and you sure haven't been sleeping! At least if you come home with me, I'll make sure you eat." Chi-chi made it sound more like a threat than an offer. 

"I haven't been sleeping, much." Bulma said tiredly. "And when I do, the nightmares.." She shuddered. She stood up, her decision made. "We're coming with you." 

Nightmares? Raditz did not like the sound of that. He seated himself comfortably in mid-air, immaterial and invisible, a ghost. He did not like the hollowness under Bulma's eyes, or the way her clothes hung loosely on her. Grief, or something worse, was consuming her--and that worried Raditz. So did the fact that it had been three weeks, not one, since Vegeta had joined him in Hell. 

Raditz had come close to complete panic when he first realized the enormity of the responsibility Vegeta had laid on him, when he first beheld the tantalizingly familiar blue-haired girl that Vegeta.. loved. There was no other word for it--her grief was too deep and genuine for her not to be loved; it cut Raditz like a knife and it wasn't even directed at him. That odd hesitancy while Vegeta explained his dilemma to Raditz, and his unshakeable determination to get back to her no matter what; it all added up: Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyajin, loved this woman heart and soul--and his pride would not let him admit it to anyone. 

Why did you lay this on me, Vegeta? It is too great a responsibility for me! You must have been completely desperate! Of course you were desperate--there was no one else you could even remotely trust, not in that realm. And yet.. I agreed. I promised you I would watch over her, and protect her in spirit, until you returned. Which of us was the greater fool? 

I know her, my prince. She stood with Kakarott, bold and beautiful, when I first came to Earth, so many years ago. She had the nerve to look me in the eye and tell me how vile I was--rulers of entire worlds had less courage than she did. And.. she has the courage to love you, Vegeta. Was there ever anyone of our race so brave? 

* * *

"Trunks can sleep with Goten, and I had Gohan put your stuff here in the guest room." Chi-chi showed Bulma around the house. "Don't worry if you hear something like an elephant tromping around the house at night, that's just Daddy--his room is across the hall from you." 

Bulma looked around, a tentative smile on her face for the first time in days. "Thank you very much, Chi-chi. You are so kind to me, and you and Goku have such a wonderful, cozy house up here in the woods. I don't want to be any trouble, though..." 

"No trouble at all. Gohan was way too big to share a room with Goten, so we attached a new addition onto the house. It's fun to have friends over, and now we actually have room for everyone. Go ahead and make yourself at home, dinner is in one hour." Chi-chi breezed out, leaving Bulma alone to unpack. 

She almost felt cheerful for a while, until she came to the picture. It was her favorite picture of Vegeta--he was wearing that devilish smirk of his and that silly pink shirt she'd given him. She set it gently on the nightstand beside her bed, tears running down her face. 

Later, after dinner, she sat with Chi-chi, Goku, Gohan and Ox King to watch the sunset. (The babies were already in bed). Goku, she thought, was looking pretty good in spite of everything they had been through. It never ceased to amaze her how equally at home Goku was here, in his peaceful forest home with his wife and sons, or in the middle of the most savage mayhem imaginable. He loved to fight, and yet he was just as content to live peacefully with his family. Not like Vegeta, who was always restless without an enemy to fight. Vegeta.. she wiped two hot tears from her eyes, and gritted her teeth. No! I will not start bawling like a baby in front of Goku and everybody! 

She looked at Gohan, who was looking back at her sympathetically. He'd grown; he was twelve now, and starting to sprout up. Chi-chi still kept him hard at his studies; he'd barely finished his homework in time to join them at sunset. 

"How's the report going, kid?" Bulma said affectionately. 

Gohan sighed. "Just finished the rough draft. It's not due until next week, so mom's letting me wait until tomorrow to clean it up." 

"What's it about? The books looked interesting." 

"It's my semester report for Literature, and I'm doing it on Japanese Folklore. There's some really neat stories in there--reading them was the fun part--but writing the report is a lot of work. It almost takes the fun out of the reading," Gohan sighed again. 

"Kid, take it from Bulma, don't ever let the bad parts make you forget how good the good parts are." You know, I should listen to myself sometimes, Bulma realized. 

Chi-chi smiled; Gohan was good company for Bulma. He cheered her up already. She still wasn't eating as much as Chi-chi would have liked, but maybe after a good night's sleep and a day in the fresh air... 

Ox King kept his thoughts to himself, and got up as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon. "I think I'll take a stroll around the house before turning in," is all he said as he strode off into the gathering gloom. The others chatted and joked a while before gradually drifting inside. 

Ox King looked around in the twilight. He must be somewhere around here.. Yes! There he was! Ox King could see the visitor now, for it was twilight, the time when ghosts and spirits became visible to those who knew to look. The stranger spirit seemed to be a big, tall man with a great shaggy mane of hair, dressed in strange, battered armor. He wore a long katana slung across his back, the hilt just peeking out from under his hair. 

The ghost stood watching the others, and did not heed Ox King's approach, which did not surprise Ox King. The ghost was not a local spirit, and probably didn't know that Ox King could see both worlds--typical for a retired General of the Animal Kingdom, but not at all common for most people. Ox King feigned ignorance as he moved closer. 

Standing very close to the ghost, almost next to him, Ox King watched the spirit out of the corner of his eye. A powerful ghost, he sensed, but not hostile. Why was he here? Ox King stepped and turned to face him. 

The ghost started, and stared at him wide-eyed, realizing with obvious dismay that Ox King saw him. Ox King noted his fine, almost handsome features, peaked hair, and.. tail! Then twilight deepened into night, and the ghost was gone. 

"Hmmmm. A Saiyan warrior. Who are you, I wonder? You're not Vegeta, but you're here visiting with Bulma. Does she know you? Should I ask her?" Ox King addressed the night. 

No, whispered a cold wind. Do not tell her! She would be afraid, and I mean her no harm. Rather the opposite--and the wind tasted of irony. 

Ox King's eyes narrowed, and he asked slowly, thoughtfully, "Are you one of Goku's friends?" 

The wind was still. At last, a wistful sigh--I'd like to be. I wish I had been... 

"That's all right, then." Ox King continued his stroll. 

* * *

Bulma regarded the soft bed with trepidation. Goku and his family went to bed earlier than she was used to, but she was so tired. It would feel so good to lie down and sleep--but then what nightmares might come? Nightmares so bad that she was afraid to sleep anymore. But.. things were different here, in Goku's house. Weren't they? 

At last, she lay down and fell asleep almost immediately. Then she began to dream. 

* * *

Eeeee! Chi-chi's father can see me! He senses spirits, like my brother senses living powers, and like I can sense other spirits. What is he? He's not human, I can sense that much--and he's Gohan and Goten's grandfather, so.. Chi-chi seems to be part human--more human than her father, at least. That makes my nephews half-saiyan, part-human, and part-what? Whatever Gohan is, it makes him stronger than any child I've ever seen. I can feel his power even from here, in the borderland. And for a two-year-old, Goten's power is, ah, impressive. 

What's that? Spirits, and I don't like their feel. And one other.. familiar. Raditz almost unconsciously raised a hand to his face, to tune a scouter that was not there... 

He found her wandering the bewildering mists of the borderland, that shadowy realm where the otherworld and the world of the living touch. The realm that the living sometimes walk in dreams; she was walking there. 

Bulma walked open-eyed but unseeing, calling for the one she had lost. "Vegeta! Where are you? Please, come back! Vegeta, answer me! I can't find you!" 

Oh, great! She's gone looking for him! If she keeps this up, she might find him--and not come back. Or something might find her. 

Then he saw the other spirits following her. Maras. Of course; now he knew the source of her nightmares. Raditz grinned wickedly as he unsheathed the ghost katana at his back... 

* * *

The morning sun woke Bulma. She yawned and stretched; goodness, it was broad daylight! She'd slept the whole night through! It felt so good--the first full night's sleep she'd had since.. since Vegeta died. She glanced at his picture beside the bed, and let the tears flow freely; they were good tears, tears for the one she loved and missed so much, not the tears of broken despair she'd been weeping for the last two weeks. 

"One way or another, we'll be together again," she promised. "There are other legendary wishes besides the dragonballs; if their legend was real, maybe some of the others are, too. I've only got an entire lifetime to find one, and if I fail, well, I still win, because you'll be there waiting for me." She thought of something, and added, "Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid--Trunks needs his mother alive and well." 

A bit later, she joined Gohan for a late breakfast (it was not a school day, and he had also slept in) after making sure Trunks held still long enough to eat something that wasn't moving (What was it with little saiyan boys and bugs? Chi-chi said Gohan and Goten had been the same way, and Bulma remembered young Goku's propensity for eating anything that held still long enough--wolves, pterodactyls, airplanes..) 

As soon as his mother let him go, Trunks all but dragged little Goten out the door, anxious to explore all the neat places he'd seen out the window. "And don't eat anything unless Chi-chi or I say it's food!" she yelled out the door after him, knowing she was wasting her breath. 

What a night! She'd slept well, but her dreams had been bizarre. First, it seemed like the same old nightmares; she was wandering about in the fog, looking for Vegeta, calling and calling him, then the monsters started to appear. The monsters that looked like twisted copies of Vegeta, and the thing that killed him, and that horrible frog--and then the samurai had appeared. With incredible grace and speed, the warrior had sliced all the monsters to pieces. Then the samurai had turned to her, and said, "Go back. You're not safe here, and you won't find Vegeta here. The monsters tricked you into coming here so they could get you. Don't come back here alone." In the dream, she'd taken the samurai's advice and gone back--to where, she wasn't sure, but she'd slept well. The really bizarre thing, though, was that the samurai had looked exactly like Goku's evil brother Raditz. 

Raditz had been dead and forgotten for the better part of a decade. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER III THE SEARCH


	3. The Search

## III. THE SEARCH 

"Whew! Bulma, we've got a huge list of wish legends here. Even after weeding out the purely fictional ones, there's.." Gohan squinted at the screen, "7386 at last count. Now what?" 

"Now we use those enhanced filters I designed. First, we dump all the ones that are too vague to be correlated with anything in the real world--no identifiers as to name, species, place, distinctive landmarks, and so on--for example, take this one from China: how on earth would we find one magic talking carp in all the rivers and lakes of China? There's nothing in the legend to pin it down to a particular river, lake, district, mountain range or whatever. So, we dump it." 

"What about cross-correlation with variations?" Gohan worried they might miss something. 

"Already done. Related legends are merged if they have enough parallels without mutually exclusive conditions--for example, our carp has some correlation with other talking fish stories--but they originate from Europe and Japan. Sure, maybe the same story has travelled a bit, and all the stories are variations the same true one--but how do we know where it came from, and what bits are from the 'original' story, and what bits are added local flavor? We don't, so it goes in the 'last-chance' stack." 

Bulma entered the command to start her filter programs running, and stood up. "Gohan, let's take a break and see what kind of trouble the kids are getting into. I don't know about you, but my eyeballs are ready to fall out." She rubbed her eyes. 

Two weeks ago, Gohan had generously offered to help Bulma with her search for a wish. As time allowed, after his homework was done, he and Bulma plundered the world's electronic libraries of folklore literature and anthropology reports. Chi-chi wouldn't let Gohan stay up past his normal bedtime, but deftly turned aside Goku's attempts to 'get his son outside more'; this project of Bulma's was good preparation for Gohan in learning how to do serious, college-level research. He was learning a lot from Bulma, Chi-chi could see that. 

Goten was roughhousing with his grandpa on the floor, holding his fingers against his head pretending they were horns and butting Ox King in stomach, all the while yelling "Noxking! Noxking!" at the top of his lungs. Ox King would laugh and toss Goten up to where the toddler could grab his horns and swing from them, giggling. Bulma smiled; that youngster was a real handful and Chi-chi was going to need all the help she could get from Ox King, Goku and Gohan. He was so different from the quiet, shy lad that Gohan had been when she first met him, or that Trunks was--if anything, Goten was a lot like young Goku must have been, before Bulma met him. 

Bulma checked on Trunks; he and Goku were just finishing up his training session. "Bath first, then snacks," she admonished him as he darted for the kitchen. She smiled at Goku. "Thanks for everything." 

He blushed. "It's no big deal; I'd have done it anyway. He needs to keep up his training--we found out the hard way that not training Gohan was a mistake, and.." he trailed off, finding it hard to say the words he knew would bring the tears back to Bulma's eyes. 

"..and his father isn't here to train him." She smiled wryly through the tears blurring her eyes. "He'd probably throw a fit if he knew 'Kakarott' was training HIS royal son, but I think he'd rather have you train Trunks than anyone else. I know I do." 

* * *

Come the weekend, Goku finally prevailed on Chi-chi to get Gohan off the computer and out of the house--he and Gohan would take the kids fishing. Bulma assured Gohan that tweaking the archaeology search engine program was a one-woman job, and that he wouldn't miss anything. Chi-chi insisted on packing picnic lunches for everyone, because "What happens if you get hungry before you catch a fish big enough to eat?" Trunks demanded a backpack and lunch of his own, because "I'm not baby like Goten any more!". Chi-chi suspected that Trunks worried that Goku might eat his lunch and Trunks' lunch, too, if it was all in the same hamper. Goten didn't voice any opinions, he just ran around the kitchen leaping and diving to the floor, yelling "Splash!" every time he dove and rolled. 

"No, Trunks, not sushi!" Chi-chi took the sushi pack from his backpack and put it back in the refrigerator. "You don't have a backpack cooler, and sushi isn't good after three hours in the sun. Trust me. Take the stuffed dumplings instead, and some fruit." Chi-chi insisted on supervising the boys' lunches ever since the day Bulma caught Trunks and Goten catching crawfish in the creek out back--and eating them. 

"But Mom! Crawfish really are food! The Americans eat them; Gohan showed me in his Geography book." 

"They wash them and cook them, first!" Bulma had retorted. "And don't tell me you were having crawfish sushi, either. For that, you bring them to the kitchen, and have Chi-chi supervise you cleaning and peeling them. We do not eat them shell and all with the mud still on them!" 

* * *

Goten liked the rocks. The river bed was full of big, round rocks that were just perfect for a little boy to laboriously climb to the top of, and stand at the summit in triumph. "Daddy! Look a' me!" he yelled. Sometimes, for variety, he called Trunks or Gohan, but they were always busy staring at the water and playing with those poles. After twenty rocks or so, even Daddy didn't seem interested in his game. After thirty rocks, Goten himself was bored and wandered off into the woods looking for something interesting. 

Raditz was almost as bored as Goten. Watching Bulma and Gohan play with the computer for the last few weeks had been as exciting as watching paint dry. No more maras had shown up, Bulma had quit wandering off into the spirit plane in her dreams, and with Kakarott and Gohan around, Bulma was quite safe from any mundane threats. He felt quite unnecessary, but he had promised Vegeta.. and he wasn't going to break a promise again. Not ever. 

Oh well, that was guard duty for you. Spend eight hours straight watching Nappa snore, and then in a split second some chitinous thing jumps out of the woods and tries to eat you. At least here he wouldn't have Vegeta making sarcastic remarks about his technique if some demon did pop out of the rocks. Not that he expected one to; the local river spirit seemed to be a pretty laid back sort. 

Where was that kid wandering off to? 

Trunks was safe enough with Kakarott and Gohan; Raditz hadn't promised anyone to watch out for Kakarott's kids, but.. Goten was his nephew. He shadowed the child as Goten wandered under the ferns. The big frilly leaves seemed to fascinate the toddler, who spent some time wrapping a number of them around himself and wearing them in his hair. 

Then he found the tree with the big slabs of shelf fungus growing up the side. "Climb!" he said, and started hauling himself up the tree, using the fungus as a ladder. 

"Kid, I don't think that's such a good idea," Raditz said, frustrated at his immaterial condition and consequent inability to do much without a great deal of trouble. Where the hell was Gohan, or Kakarott or even Trunks? Not that a fall from this short distance could really hurt a kid with this much Saiyan blood, but it still made Raditz nervous. What worse trouble could this kid find unattended? 

Suddenly Goten looked around, and jumped down to the ground again. He looked through Raditz, apparently unaware of the ghost, and bellowed, "GOTEN! I'M GOTEN!" 

"No kidding--everything in the woods knows that now. I'm your Uncle Raditz, kid--not that you can hear a word I'm saying, but what the hell." If someone doesn't show up for this kid Real Soon, I'm going to have to get Kakarott's attention. I really don't want to do that. 

Goten stopped suddenly and cocked his head, looking in Raditz's direction. "Nunk Rats?" He pointed at Raditz and grinned. "Nunk Rats! Hair!" 

Oh, crud. The kid CAN hear me. And see me. He's Ox King's grandson, and too young to have learned that he's not supposed to be able to see spirits. Crud. He probably doesn't even know I'm a ghost, or what a ghost is. 

Goten charged and tried to tackle one of Raditz's legs. He passed right through the insubstantial spirit and banged into a tree. "HEY!" He rubbed his head, looking angry, and then jumped up and tried to grab hold of Raditz's interesting hair. He fell through empty air again. He howled his anger. "NO FAIR! NO FAIR!" 

"Yes, it's fair." Raditz squatted down by the youngster, and reached out to grab him with one large hand. Goten's eyes went wide as the hand passed through him without touching. "Fair--you can't touch me, I can't touch you." 

Goten plopped down on the ground and thought about that for a bit. He looked up at Raditz and pouted. "Fair," he conceded. "No fun." 

"I agree, kid. It's no fun at all." Raditz sighed and stood up. 

At this, Trunks came running through the woods. "Goten! Oh, you're all right." He looked around; nothing but the empty woods and Goten sitting by himself pouting. "Why were you yelling? Come on, I'm going to be in trouble for letting you wander off when I was supposed to be watching you." 

"Nunk Rats," Goten explained. "Want hair, but no fun." 

"Sure, whatever." Trunks rolled his eyes at the baby's inability to speak coherently. At five, he felt immeasurably superior to the toddler still in diapers. Not only could he speak so that any adult could understand him, he was learning how to write characters already! Could Goten even count to ten yet? 

Trunks seized Goten by the arm and half-dragged him back to the river, to find a frowning Goku and sheepish Gohan waiting for them. Gohan scowled at Trunks as soon as he saw him. He started to say something, but Goku interrupted him. 

"Trunks, sit down. Gohan, you were told to watch the kids. Why were Trunks and Goten off in the woods by themselves?" Goku's voice was calm but dangerous. 

"Umm, I told Trunks to watch Goten.." Gohan gulped, knowing he was in trouble. 

"Trunks is only five, Gohan. He's still a baby, not old enough to be looking after another baby." Only Gohan could see the wink Goku gave Gohan. 

Trunks jumped up, indignant. "I am NOT a baby! I can so look after Goten." He looked downcast. "I was careless, sir. It was my fault, I shouldn't have been paying so much attention to the fish. But I did go looking for him when I noticed he was gone!" 

Goku looked grave. "I'm afraid it was a mistake to trust you with that kind of responsibility. By the time you noticed he was gone, Goten could have fallen down a hole, been eaten by one of the dinosaurs roaming the woods.." He shook his head. 

Trunks bit his lip, struggling to hold back tears of shame. "It won't happen again, Goku-san! I promise! You can trust me!" 

Goku nodded solemnly. "I believe I can. However.." He turned to his eldest son. "Gohan, you were responsible for supervising Trunks. You let him down, you let me down. You're older than he is, I expect you to be a lot more responsible." Goku never raised his voice. 

Gohan cringed; it was his turn for shame. "I'm sorry, dad. I do know better, and I did let you down. I won't let it happen again, dad." His face was crimson, and his heart was in his shoes somewhere--he'd disappointed Dad! 

"Let me show you something. Pick up Goten. Trunks, follow me." Goku led the boys about a half-mile downriver, around a bend. Gohan gaped as the river dropped abruptly in front of them; a waterfall. The bank they had been following also dropped off. Goku pointed down; Gohan peered over the edge at a fifty-foot drop onto rocks and jagged, broken driftwood. He turned white. 

Goku didn't say a word, and Gohan and Trunks were silent as they hiked back to their picnic site. When they got there, Goku turned back to them, all smiles, and said, "We've got some nice fish here. Let's eat!". He never said another word about what had gone before, and they never forgot it. 

* * *

"Hey, guys!" Bulma yelled late one evening, several days later. "I think we've got something!" She was at the computer, reviewing the latest search results. "Gohan, remember the one about the village with the well spirit that grants wishes?" 

Gohan looked up from his studies. "Which one?" 

Goten was sitting on the floor playing with his toys. He looked up, and smiled happily. "Nunk Rats." 

Chi-chi, who had just finished cleaning up from supper, looked quizzically at Goten. "Does anyone know what Goten is saying? He's been saying that ever since Goku took him fishing. I can usually figure out what he means, but 'nunk rats' is a mystery to me." 

"The Japanese one," Bulma answered Gohan. "The kami of the underground spring grants a wish every century, remember that one? I've found an archaeology report on the excavation of an ancient village that might correspond to the legend." Her voice was tense with barely restrained excitement. 

"Uh," Gohan answered, distracted between his mother and Bulma. "That's nice. Mom, I think it must be something he sees in the woods. Trunks says he's always saying that when they're outside exploring." 

"'That's nice'?!?" Bulma exclaimed dangerously. "We've been working on this for a month, and finally have some interesting results, and all you can say is 'That's nice'?!?" 

"That's great, Bulma! What have you got?" Gohan jumped up and hurried over to Bulma, looking over her shoulder. 

"Well, first," she said as she brought a map up on the screen, "the report mentions the local folklore about the kami of the spring. Second," she pointed out various features on the excavation map, "the key landmarks in the legend are all there. Third, the university never finished the excavation." She lowered her voice so that Chi-chi would not hear. "I made some inquiries; they never reapplied for their grant after the professor in charge of the expedition, and two grad students.. disappeared." 

Gohan glanced at his mother, she seemed oblivious to their conversation. "This is good?" He looked skeptical. 

"It means Something is going on," Bulma whispered back. "Maybe not a kami granting wishes, maybe it's someone else after the wish, maybe something else entirely. But it is Something, and Something is a lot more promising than nothing. I'm only going to investigate it, just to see if there's anything to it. If there is, and it looks dangerous, of course I'll ask Goku to come with." 

"Wait until next week, when I start vacation. I'm coming with you." Gohan said, determined. 

Bulma started to protest, but stopped after glancing at his face. She knew that look on Gohan's face--she'd seen it on Namek when he turned back to face Frieza--he would not be dissuaded by anything Bulma said. Well, she would feel a lot safer having the young saiyan with her, anyway--and whatever had removed three ordinary humans could hardly be a match for one of the three--two, now--most powerful fighters in the world, could it? 

"Nunk Rats?" Goten said interestedly. 

Quantum electronics were absurdly easy to touch, compared to large material objects and people. Raditz reached past Bulma and scrolled to the 'folklore' section of the report, and read the additional details Bulma hadn't mentioned. Evil sorceror; soul-stealing ghost warriors; a curse on the village, and a captive kami in the power of the sorceror. And--something *real* ate three people. Uh-huh. Now he knew why Vegeta thought Bulma needed watching over... 

Bulma noticed out of the corner of her eye that the screen was scrolling itself to sections of the report she didn't want to worry Gohan and Chi-chi with. She smiled, and moved herself in front of the screen, trying to act casual, while simultaneously trying to hit the "Save & Close" command without being seen. Gohan looked at her oddly. 

"Nunk Rats fun?" Goten asked hopefully as he toddled over to the computer. He waved his arms wildly in front of Bulma, and frowned. "No. Nunk Rats not fun," he said forlornly. 

"What is with this kid?" Bulma scratched her head. "AND WILL SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL A 'NUNK RATS' IS?!!?" 

"'Puter fun?" Goten suddenly jumped up onto the console and started poking at buttons. 

"AAGGGHHH!" Bulma pulled him off the computer, but it was too late. "NOOOOO! He hit CANCEL! Now I've got to retrieve that report all over again!" 

"Well," Gohan grinned, "I guess that means you'll be ready by the time my vacation starts." 

"Ooooohhh!" Bulma steamed. 

"What's up?" Trunks came in, still toweling his hair dry. "Did I miss something?" 

"Miss what?" Goku finally wandered in, hair dripping. "Bulma, why are you sitting on the computer?" 

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER IV. A VILLAGE


	4. A Village

##  IV. A VILLAGE

"..and the camp house, and excavation mech, and spare scooter. All right, that's all the capsules I need.. I think." Bulma counted capsules in the small case, and tucked it into her belt pouch. She watched Gohan loading supplies into the back seat. "Got enough food there, kiddo? I've got a full fridge in the Capsule Camp House, ya know." 

"Well, I might get hungry. Besides, Mom insisted." Gohan looked a bit sheepish as he tossed his book-pack in last, and headed back to the house. 

Bulma smiled knowingly; Chi-chi was convinced that they'd be reduced to grubbing for roots and berries unless she packed a week's supply of food for an overnight camping trip. Oh well, Gohan had nearly as big an appetite as Goku and it wouldn't hurt to have a little extra. 

Bulma bent over her pocket computer, studying the archaeology reports. What to tell Gohan, and when? Engrossed in thought, she didn't notice Goten until he was tugging on her sleeve. 

"Nan Bulma! Go with you? Want go with Nunk Rats." He looked so hopeful that Bulma hated to turn him down, but she knew better. 

"I'm sorry, but you have to stay home with your mother; this isn't a trip for little boys. Trunks is staying home, too. Besides, I don't have any 'nunk rats'." Bulma smiled and tousled the two-year-old's hair. 

Goten turned stubborn. "Nunk Rats go with, I want to go too!" Suddenly his face fell and his lip started to tremble. "I can't go?" 

Bulma put a finger to her lip as she thought. Something about the way Goten was talking.. could it be that 'nunk rats' was a someone, not a something? But who? Who was Goten talking about? 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Trunks charging around the corner with a full pack on his back. "Hey, Mom. Goten, come on!" 

"Where are you going?" Bulma asked, feeling vaguely suspicious. 

"Oh, I was going to take Goten exploring in the woods again, so he wouldn't be all upset when you and Gohan left without him. Chi-chi packed us both a lunch, too." 

"We must have cleaned out the pantry, between us. Let me enter a reminder to pick up some groceries on the way back." Bulma made a notation on her pocket comp. "By the way, do you know who 'Nunk Rats' is?" 

Trunks shrugged. "I think he's Goten's imaginary friend. Goten pretends to talk to him a lot when we're out in the woods." He started to lead the now docile Goten off. 

"Oh, that would explain it," Bulma said, a bit distracted. What was holding up Gohan this time? She went back inside to hurry him along. 

Trunks peeked around the corner. The coast was clear! He hurried over to the aircar, Goten in tow, and stealthily lifted the trunk lid. He tossed his backpack in, grabbed a surprised Goten and stuffed him in, and then climbed into the trunk himself. As he was pulling the lid shut, Goten started to protest. 

"Nooo! Can't go! Nan Bulma said no; Nunk Rats said no." He tried to push the lid open and climb back out; Trunks found he had to pull surprisingly hard to keep Goten from pushing the lid open. 

"Ssssh! They'll hear us if you keep yelling. Listen to me! Please, Goten!" Some of the urgency in Trunks voice got through to Goten, and he stopped fussing. "Mom is going to find a wish to bring father back. I am NOT going to miss father coming back! I AM going to be there when he returns," Trunks said fiercely. "And I have to bring you, because I'm responsible for watching you, and I can't watch you if I leave you in the woods at home, and if take you inside for someone else to watch you, they'll ask questions about why I can't watch you. It's okay, you're safe with me, like Mom's safe with Gohan. Your big brother Gohan is one of the best fighters in the whole world, and he'll protect us. Father started teaching me to fight, and your dad's been training me, too, so I can protect you from anything bad out there, even if Gohan's not around. Besides, I thought you wanted to go." 

"But Nan Bulma.." 

"Mom will be mad at me, not you, when she finds out, so don't worry about it. It's something I have to do, Goten. I have to help Mom bring father back." There was an odd tightness to his voice. They were curled up together in the dark, cramped space; Goten felt around and touched Trunk's face. It was wet with tears. He hugged his friend, not understanding the older boy's grief, but desperately wanting to make him feel better. 

"Okay," Goten said simply, as the aircar hummed with power and lifted off the ground. After a short while, the boys fell asleep, lulled to sleep by the steady hum of the aircar. 

* * *

"Whoa! Turn around, Bulma, I see it, it's right back there!" The aircar circled over the remote mountain valley. 

"I see it, kiddo! Boy, talk about remote and out of the way! I didn't know there was any place left in Japan this far from anyone! No roads, no trails, nothing. I don't know why people left this place to begin with, but I can see why no one came back--without an aircar, you just can't get here!" 

The aircar circled lower over the ruins as Bulma guided it closer. From the air, they could make out the overgrown foundations of crumbled houses where the village must have been in the small valley; up on the mountainside, a few walls of the monastery-temple still stood. It, too, was overgrown; bamboo thicket choked the courtyard, and kudzu crawled over everything. 

"Gohan, can you see a place that is actually flat enough for us to land? I can't tell what is under all this kudzu; I'd hate to drop us in a sinkhole or something." 

"How about that field over there? Wait, I'll check it out." With that, the twelve-year-old boy jumped over the side and drifted slowly down, levitating. He landed on the field in question, a ancient grain-field gone wild. He waved to Bulma; it was solid enough, and stepped aside as Bulma brought the aircar down next to him. 

How long, she thought, before Trunks starts scaring the daylights out of me by doing things like jumping out of a car in midair? Vegeta and Goku have already taught him to use his ki; Goku told me it was Trunks that started the cook-fire for the fish they caught the other day. May it be a long time, she prayed, before he has to use his power to fight a real enemy. 

* * *

"There's something really depressing about this place," Bulma said. She and Gohan looked around the ruined village. Not much more than foundations remained; from the old archaeology report and the aircar's camera shots, they were able to place major features such as the village headman's house, the granary, the village well, and some others. According to the report, the spring was marked by the remains of a small shrine part way up the mountain toward the monastery. 

"'Depressing' isn't the word I'd use," Gohan said, as the hairs on the back of his neck stiffened. "It gives me the creeps." He looked very Saiyan at that moment, with his hair spiking out. 

Trunks would have agreed with Gohan if he'd heard him. At the moment, he was sneaking around the back side of the overgrown rubble of the village, hoping no one would spot him and Goten. Goten was unusually quiet, and held Trunk's hand very tightly, as if he were desperately afraid of losing him. 

'Depressing' wasn't the word Raditz would have used, either--but then, he could see what none of the others besides Goten could see. He knew why Goten was clinging so tightly to Trunks; the living are rarely comfortable in the presence of the restless dead. 

"This place," he remarked to himself, "crawls." He could see the village whole and complete, houses, huts, well, path, and shrine above. And it was inhabited: the ghosts of the village walked its vanished streets. Correction; they had walked the streets, until Raditz showed up. At the sight of the tall, long-maned saiyan ghost, the spectral villagers had run for their spectral houses and hidden behind closed doors and shuttered windows. 

That is damn peculiar. It's not like I destroyed the place when I was alive. This village has been dead since before Saiyans even made it into space, so they're not hiding because I'm Saiyajin. So I'm big and dangerous--if they were alive, I could understand them running; but why the hell are they scared of another ghost when they're already dead? Crud. I can guess a few possible answers, and I don't like any of them. 

Raditz briefly considered kicking in a few phantasmal doors and beating some answers out of the inhabitants, but a flash of movement in the physical world caught his attention. He rose up and looked around. Bulma and Gohan were setting up camp next to the aircar--Where the hell did that domed cottage come from??--and the kids were... 

No, I am NOT seeing this. Someone please tell me I'm alive and just having a nightmare! Of course, Trunks would pick the one uncollapsed area in the whole town to camp in and hide from his mother. Of course, that would be the cemetery. 

*Sigh* I'm going to have a busy night. 

* * *

"The village well is dry," said Bulma as she studied the map, "and I think the spring feeds the well somehow. Well," she said brightly, "we were going to investigate the spring anyway, let's go see what the problem is." 

"Why are we concerned about the well?" Gohan looked puzzled as they walked up the overgrown trail. 

"Because of the curse on the village," Bulma explained patiently, as if to a backward child. 

"What curse on the village??" Gohan asked suspiciously. He stopped and faced Bulma. "What didn't you tell me about this place?" His hair was spiking up again. 

Bulma smiled and tried to look innocent. "Oh, just a few folk tales.. But it's okay, I didn't keep any secrets from you that I didn't keep from your mom or Goku." 

Gohan crossed his arms and got a stubborn look on his face. "I'm not moving." 

Bulma grimaced, and handed her pocket comp to Gohan. "Look under folklore; I knew I was going to have to tell you sooner or later." 

He read quickly. "But the well is dry because the kami of the spring cursed the village. She cursed the village because the greedy headman helped the sorceror capture her by blocking up the spring. So what are we going to do?" They started walking again. 

"First, we are going to check out the shrine and the spring. Then I'll make my plans." 

It was a warm summer day, and Bulma was panting as she pulled herself up the last bit of trail to the shrine. Gohan simply floated along beside her, offering a hand if she stumbled. "Next time, I bring a grav belt," she muttered. "Even if I have to invent it first." 

The shrine was fallen to ruin like the village, and at first Bulma could see no sign of a spring. Then she noticed that the ruined shrine had covered a grotto. Rocks choked the grotto, rocks that were slick with moss and algae. She felt them; they were wet. 

"It's been blocked up," she told Gohan. So, at least that much of the legend is true! "We're going to unblock it!" She stepped back into the open, cobbled area around the shrine and got out her case of capsules. "Stand back, kiddo!" She carefully chose one, and tossed it into the open area. 

It grew and shaped itself into a strange, upright machine--something like a large robot frame with a digging shovel on one hand and large, industrial strength graspers on the other. 

"One excavation mech, ready to go!" Bulma climbed into the driver's seat of the mech. 

"Bulma, why are we doing this?" 

"Can you think of a better way to get the kami's attention?" 

"What if she doesn't like it, or isn't here?" Gohan called as Bulma revved up the mech. 

"We'll worry about that when the time comes!" Bulma yelled back cheerily. CLANK! CRUNCH! The mech moved forward, and, after clearing away what little rubble remained from the shrine's fallen roof and walls, started pulling massive boulders out of the grotto. Once the heavier stuff was out of the way, Bulma used the digging shovel to clear out the gravel and sand, until she hit another layer of boulders. 

By late afternoon, the grotto had been cleared, and a low wall of boulders stacked all around the cobbled area in front of the grotto. Gohan used his own power to lift all the loose sand, gravel and mud out of the shrine and dump it down the hill somewhere. His last sweep of the stone pavement revealed a basin under the dirt; he resumed his efforts and cleared it just as Bulma's mech pulled one last, very wet rock loose. 

Water bubbled out; a trickle at first, and then a stream. It ran down the rock face of the grotto, and vanished into a crack in the rock--but a small trickle spilled out and flowed into the basin, slowly filling it. As they watched, the stream swelled to a torrent, a waterfall rushing down into the depths of the earth. Gohan listened; far below, he could hear the thunder of a mighty river. 

Bulma waited expectantly.. and waited. And waited. 

"Well?" Gohan asked, as the sun drew near the horizon. 

Bulma sat dejected on the boulder wall. "I was so sure something would happen when I unblocked the spring. So much for folktales." She sighed. "Or wishes." One tear gathered unbidden at the corner of her eye. 

Gohan gave Bulma a quick hug. "Maybe something will happen tomorrow. Let's go camp, I'm hungry." 

Bulma hugged Gohan back, and laughed. "You are so much like your dad, it's scary. I'm hungry, too. Back to the hut." They worked their way back down the trail in the reddening sunlight. 

Gohan and Bulma turned to watch the sunset from the camp house. "I read the rest of that archaelogical report, you know," Gohan told Bulma. "You didn't mention the part where the archaeologists found the villagers.. Something killed them all at once, long, long ago--no one was left to bury them." 

Bulma smiled sickly. "That does match up with part of the folklore.. I so hoped that the part with the kami and the wishes matched up, too." 

"Maybe it does, and we just haven't figured out how to talk to the kami and get a wish, yet. Remember how hard it was to make a wish with the Namek dragonballs before we knew how?" Gohan looked back at the sunset and the ruined village, as Bulma nodded agreement. 

"My grandfather once told me," Gohan mused, "that if you look carefully at twilight you can see ghosts, because they become visible when it is neither day nor night." The sun was just slipping below the horizon. 

Bulma said "That's ridicu---" and stopped. The whole village had suddenly appeared, transparent at first, darkening to full visibility as the twilight deepened. People walked the streets, and Bulma's hair nearly stood on end as a farmer walked right past her toward the village. It did stand on end as a young woman walked directly toward her, hands out as if pleading. Bulma could see her lips moving as if she was speaking, but there was no sound. 

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Gohan caught her as she fainted. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER V. AFTER SUNSET


	5. After Sunset

## V. AFTER SUNSET

As it grew dark, Trunks tried to explain to Goten why they couldn't have a fire. "Mom will see it, and she'd catch us. We have to stay secret, understand?" 

"Too dark. Make a light?" Goten pleaded. 

"If I do that, Gohan will sense my ki! Only if it's an emergency, okay?" Trunks dug in his pack; they'd already eaten the stuffed dumplings he'd packed for supper, and spread out the sleeping bags. "Here, I brought some chocolate. Have some." 

Goten happily tore the wrapper off and crammed the bar in his mouth. "Tha'k 'u." 

"You're welcome." 

Trunks had been too busy setting up camp to notice the spectral village appear at twilight; by the time he was done, it was too dark to see. Goten, of course, had been watching it all day. Trunks was surprised that Goten hadn't wanted to run off and explore the ruins, but he did not even begin the guess the truth. 

Up on the moutainside, something malevolent stirred deep within the ruined monastery. At long last, there were lives within its reach; young, fresh, strong lives for the taking. It was bound, and could not move--but its servants could. A whisper in darkness, in darkness answered. Four dark spirits rose from their long slumber; four shadows deeper than night took form, and crept down from the ruins towards the village. Above, an ancient evil put forth its hand, and sealed to itself everything within its reach. 

* * *

By sunset, Goku was worried, and Chi-chi was frantic. Search as they would, there was simply no sign of Trunks or Goten. Chi-chi had thought of the obvious, and had Goku call Bulma on her satellite phone. He'd casually asked--not wanting to worry her about Trunks yet--if they had taken Goten with them. Bulma had sounded a bit odd, but no, they hadn't taken the kids with. 

Chi-chi looked at Goku. "That's all she said? Something's wrong. Your question all but shouted 'the kids are missing', and she didn't even ask about Trunks?? That's not like her." 

Goku didn't have an answer for her; something even more disturbing had his attention. Search and sense as he might, he could not feel or find Trunk's ki, or Goten's ki. It was as if they were in hiding.. or dead. 

He looked at his wife. "I'll go check on Bulma; if something is wrong.." He tried to sense Gohan or Bulma's ki; to his horror, he realized that he couldn't sense them, either. It was as if they, too, had dropped off the face of the earth. It wasn't him; he could sense Chi-chi and Ox King in the house, Master Roshi in his hut on the island, Piccolo out in the desert, Tien and Chaozu at their place, Kulilin, Yamcha, Karin, so many, many others--but not his sons, and not his oldest friend and her son. And not Vegeta, but Goku at least knew why he could not sense his old enemy/comrade. 

"Chi-chi," he said, his throat tight, "call Bulma again." Chi-chi looked at him oddly, and punched in the number. No answer; the phone was off or unreachable. 

"I'm going to get Piccolo," he said. "Then we're going to find Gohan, and everyone else." Goku's face was set and grim. Chi-chi nodded mutely, and Goku headed out the door and took flight. 

* * *

"I'm scared," Goten whimpered. "Bad things out there." 

Trunks didn't know what was 'out there', but he didn't like it. There were things moving and stirring all around them in the old cemetery, and the worst thing was that Trunks couldn't sense them. They had no life force that he could feel, not even the dim glow of animals. 

"Don't be scared, I'll protect you," Trunks said with forced bravado. He felt all cold and crawly inside, almost like.. fear. No! He was a Saiyan prince, he would not allow himself to be afraid! He gritted his teeth, and gathered power, all thoughts of secrecy forgotten. 

"Make a light! Make a light!" Goten cried urgently. "It's a 'mergency. Nunk Rats says so!" 

"I'll take your word for it." Trunks' ki flared up into a floating ball of light, illuminating the cemetery. His heart pounded and his breath seemed to catch in his throat; everywhere he looked, the ground stirred and heaved. Several grey, gaunt, almost skeletal forms crouched and crept toward him. One was almost close enough to spit on; it snarled and showed sharp, pointed teeth and hideously long, clawed fingernails. 

Trunks shouted involuntarily and lashed out; his foot smashed into the monster's chin, shattering its jaw and breaking its neck. The thing reeled back--and stood up, its head lolling from side-to-side on its broken neck. It reached out for Trunks, who grabbed Goten and backed away from the thing in horror. 

"Nunk Rats!" Goten yelled jubilantly. What the hell? Trunks couldn't see anything but the grey ghoul-things. 

"Use your ki, Trunks! Burn the damn thing, NOW!" A fierce voice snarled out of the night, and for the briefest instant, Trunks thought he could sense a very strong ki--but very, very far away, somehow. He seized power and flung it. 

The white blast of ki hit the ghoul-thing like a blowtorch hits paper; nothing but smoking bones dropped to the ground. They did not rise again. Three more monsters darted forward; Trunks blocked and struck with a flurry of attacks, then blasted the broken forms that still clutched for him with hungry claws. 

"First lesson, young prince, in killing jiki-niku-gaki: slow them, if necessary, with physical attacks, but burn them to destroy them!" A soft, fierce voice, whose owner Trunks still could not see. There was something eerily familiar about the way he spoke--but no, it was not Father!--that would have raised the hairs on the back of his neck if they weren't already standing on end. 

The voice continued, "Goten, if anything bad gets past Trunks, hit it as hard as you can. You are much stronger than you think, youngest warrior." 

Several more of the ghoul-things rushed Trunks, only to meet the same fate as their predecessors. He panted with the exertion, his heart swelling with a fierce pride: he, Trunks, was a warrior like his father! With his own power, he killed monsters, and protected his little friend Goten. "Thank you, Father," he whispered, "for teaching me how to fight. And may I remember to thank Goku-san as well, when we get home." 

Suddenly the ghoul-things stopped, and fell back. Trunks sensed something.. not right. Something malefic and insatiably hungry rose out of the night, beyond the jiki-niku-gaki. It appeared in the shape of a sickly green luminescent warrior, armed and armored as an ancient samurai. It raised its hand and gestured; the earth heaved and graves opened to reveal dozens more ghoul-things. Then the demonic warrior strode forward. 

"Trunks, deal with the gaki; this one's mine." 

To Trunks' amazement, a very big, powerful warrior appeared out of the night and landed lightly in front of him, facing the oncoming demon samurai. Trunks couldn't see many details; they were all obscured by the huge mane of hair spilling down the warrior's back--but he recognized the armor. It was very much like something his father once wore. Once again, that sense of powerful, but very distant ki... 

"Nunk Rats!" Goten cheered, and then Trunks was too busy with the ghoul-things to worry about the stranger Goten seemed to know. 

The demon samurai ghost hesitated at Raditz's appearance, bringing its spectral blade into guard position. Raditz could sense its voracious hunger for life force, for ki--and he knew that Trunks had no chance at all against the thing. Unlike the gaki, it had no physical form to block or strike, and it fed on ki; it would reach right through the young prince's defenses and drain his life away until the boy fell dead. Correction: it would have, except that Raditz was between it and its prey. Raditz grinned evilly, and raised his own blade. 

A quick flurry of lunge, parry, feint, parry as the two spectral warriors circled, testing each other. Yes; the demon samurai was very skilled with his blade, more skilled than Raditz--but not fast enough. 

Just.. (Parry, feint, a blur..) 

..not.. (Raditz *behind* the samurai ghost-thing..) 

..fast.. (A backhanded strike too fast to see..) 

..enough! The demon ghost's hand and blade spun away, severed at the wrist. Raditz completed the circle, reversed his blade, and the counterstroke sent the other ghost's head and body flying in seperate directions. With a soul-chilling howl, the thing faded from sight; Raditz noted that the broken spirit fled upward, toward the mountainside--and the ruined monastery. 

"You won't be back tonight." 

Raditz turned to check on the kids. A flaring curtain of white fire dazzled him for a instant as it surrounded Trunks and Goten. What?? He's learning fast! The kid's getting good--figured out how to do an area blast in the middle of the fight! Raditz grinned. 

Trunks stood, gasping for breath. Goten hugged Trunks tightly around the waist. All around them lay piles of smoking bones. Nothing else moved. He cooly regarded the ghostly warrior; he could see him clearly now. No doubt about it; the big man was a Saiyan: peaked, stiff hair so much like father's, the shape of his eyes and face, the distinctive armor, and, if there had been any doubt, the furred tail wrapped around the ghost's waist. 

"You're Goten's 'Nunk Rats', aren't you? Who are you really? And why can I see and hear you now? Goten's seen you all along, hasn't he?" 

Raditz returned Trunks' stare with one of equal coolness. "You have a lot of questions, young prince. And--" Raditz broke off, seeing two streaks of pallid blue and red light dart across the sky, toward the other end of the village--toward Gohan and Bulma. "No time for that! There's two more of them! Get over to Gohan, NOW! I can't defend you on opposite sides of the village at once, and Gohan doesn't know how to fight them!" 

Raditz started through the village, then turned to glare at Trunks, who hadn't moved. Goten was frozen to his waist. "MOVE! Goten, forget the village ghosts--they're too scared of ME." He laughed evilly. At that, Goten let go of Trunks and ran pell-mell down the village street, Trunks on his heels. Raditz plunged through the air, a spectral white streak. 

* * *

Bulma sat bolt upright. "Gohan! Wake up! I'm an idiot! Where's Trunks???" 

"Huh? What?" Goku's oldest son blinked sleepily. "Isn't he at home?" 

"You idiot! Goku called to ask if we had Goten--didn't that seem a bit strange to you? Goten is ALWAYS with Trunks; they were together when we left this morning. Ooooooh! If I hadn't been so rattled by those ghosts, I'd have known something was wrong! Get up, we're going back!" Still clad in her night shirt, Bulma fumbled around looking for her phone. "I'm going to call and find out just what is going on!" 

She punched the codes in repeatedly; no signal. "That's funny, I can't get a link. Maybe outside.." She wandered out the front door, still fiddling with the satellite phone. 

"Don't bother, I know where Trunks is." Gohan followed her outside, his voice odd. He pointed across the village; white light flared and subsided in the distance. "I can feel his ki; he's right over there, and he's in a fight. So is my little brother. I can't sense who they're fighting, though." 

Bulma could hear the fear in his voice; it paralleled the fear in her heart. What was happening to her son? Gohan glowed with power and leaped into the air-- 

\--and a lurid red streak flashed through the air and struck him. Gohan cried out and fell to the ground, his power extinguished. Looming over him was the form of an ancient samurai, glowing with a lurid red light. Bulma screamed and jumped back as a second spectral samurai appeared and struck at her, this one glowing a ghastly pale blue. She fell back into the camp house, and the phantom warrior hesitated, as if confused by the dome house in the middle of the field. 

Gohan staggered to his feet, feeling weak. That monster's blow had stolen part of his power! He leaped into the air after it, dodging and striking. To his horror, his blows went right through it, hitting nothing but air. It counterattacked; Gohan dodged the spectral blade easily, but made the mistake of instinctively blocking the thing's bare left hand. The spectral hand plunged through his arm and into his body, and Gohan screamed as he felt his life being ripped away. 

He fell away from the thing, hitting the ground heavily. As blackness rolled over him, the last thing he saw was an armored body slamming into the spectral red samurai; the last thing he heard was the crack of ghostly bones; and the last thing Gohan wondered was, "Where'd the Saiyan come from?" 

Bulma took cover behind the bed, hoping the blue ghost warrior wouldn't see her. It ducked through the low doorway and entered the dome house slowly. It moved and hesitated, as if the small house confused it. Step by hesitant step, it drew steadily closer to Bulma. She backed up until there was no place left to retreat to; cornered, she faced the thing. It reached for her-- 

\--And halted as a forlorn wail echoed off the walls, its head turned sharply toward the door. It plunged toward the door, seeming less confused on its way out than it had been coming in. Just as Bulma drew a deep breath of relief at her narrow escape, it stopped suddenly at the doorway. Bulma's heart shuddered momentarily; was it coming back? Then she realized it had halted with two feet of oddly translucent sword blade protruding from its back. 

As she watched, a large hand grabbed its shoulder and pulled it forward, out of her sight. A blade swung and flashed; something howled its thwarted rage into the night. Bulma collapsed, shaking in reaction from her brush with death. 

Something rushed through the grass outside; words were exchanged. A small figure peeked in the door. 

"Nan Bulma okay?" asked Goten. 

Bulma sat and stared at him dully; Goten was here? Then Trunks... 

Worried by her silence, Goten toddled over to Bulma and hugged her. She grabbed him and hugged him back as hard as she could. "Oh, Goten! Yes, Nan Bulma is okay. I'm okay!" She kissed the little boy on his forehead. "Trunks, where's Trunks?" 

"Trunks 'kay. Trunks help Gohan. Gohan's hurt," Goten said, looking worried. "Nunk Rats stopped bad red ghost that hurt Gohan." He hugged Bulma again. "I was scared. Trunks burned up bad things; Nunk Rats kill bad green ghost, an' get bad blue ghost that chased Nan Bulma." He hugged her some more. "Nunk Rats go watch bad yellow ghost up on mountain, an' Trunks help Gohan," Goten finished his report, climbing into Bulma's lap. 

She cuddled the little boy. "You've been through a lot today, haven't you? There is one thing I still don't understand.." 

"What, Nan Bulma?" 

"WHO IS NUNK RATS???" 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER VI. DAWN


	6. Dawn

## VI. DAWN 

I can see him now, the fourth demon warrior. He's a yellow flame above that ruined temple; doesn't seem to be in a hurry to come down and challenge me. His friends didn't do too well. Heh. 

Raditz smirked to himself. Demons, I can handle. He looked down. Goten was asleep in Bulma's bed; Bulma and Trunks were taking care of Gohan, and arguing over who was going to keep watch. 

Good, the kid will live. Some rest and food and Gohan will have his strength back, and probably more. Heh. We saiyajin are tough that way. 

He glanced back at the fourth demon samurai, still hovering in the distance. I really want to go after you, but if I do, and there are more of you around.. He glanced down at Bulma and Trunks again. No. I can't risk them. Damn you! 

Why did I accept this burden? Why did I promise Vegeta--stupid questions. I know the answers already. My prince, in that other life I swore loyalty to you 'unto death', but there is a bond between us that transcends even death--but damned if I understand it. 

We were the last of the Saiyajin: we suffered exile and humiliation together under Frieza, and we fought every battle knowing that not only could it be our last, personally, it could be the last battle of the Saiyan race. We were doomed together. 

From Nappa I had friendship, from you I only wanted respect. I never got it. There was no room in your heart for respect; those weaker than you were tools to be used in your war with Frieza; those stronger than you were Frieza's allies, hated and schemed against. Until Kakarott. 

The bitterest torment of Hell is this: to have all one's comforting illusions stripped away, to face one's self as one truly is, to know the truth--and to know the truth others saw. I was another tool to you, discarded and forgotten when I failed you. You never respected me, my prince--and I never respected myself. 

What lies between us now? I don't know; once, I would have turned my back on you when you sought me out in Hell. But you've changed, my prince; you're not the empty-hearted bastard I once followed. That Vegeta would never have sought me out and asked me to protect his mate and child. That Vegeta never respected me that much; that Vegeta never cared about another that much. 

Perhaps I wanted to take the measure of your respect, find out what you had entrusted me with. The answer appalls me; I was never worthy of THAT much respect. Am I now? I don't know; we'll find out. I know only that I, too, have changed; I'm not the same Raditz as I was when I died on that grassy field eight years ago. 

That wasn't the only reason. I wanted to go back.. to see Kakarott again. My brother.. and I don't have the courage to make myself known to him. How ironic! To think that I once held him in contempt--until the moment I knew he died willingly to stop me. No fear, no hesitation, but the willing surrender of his life to his old enemy to stop me--to protect Earth from me. I could not have done that. I didn't even understand it, but I respected him for it, even as I died. 

I still don't understand Kakarott, but I am in awe of him. He is the Super-Saiyan of legend, the destroyer of Frieza, without doubt the greatest warrior in the universe. Yet he does not conquer and rule the weak, but protects and defends them. He is so very unlike we Saiyajin--and yet.. I still remember what father told me when I said that of Kakarott, what he told King Vegeta when the king said that of Kakarott at Frieza's fall: "Kakarott is not as we were; rather, he is what we should have been." 

What I should have been. 

I like the kid. He looks like Kakarott did that day he was put in the capsule for Earth, the day I set out on my first mission as an adult warrior. He sees and hears me, and isn't afraid of me. He doesn't know what lies between his father and I, or his older brother and I; he simply accepts me. 

But if anyone else calls me "Nunk Rats", I'll kill them. 

* * *

"No arguments, Gohan. Even if you were in shape for a fight, the kids are in too much danger. I can search for another wish, another day. Right now, we're getting out of here." Bulma encapsulated the camp house and put it back in her case. It was shortly after dawn; Trunks and Goten ate breakfast from the extra supplies Chi-chi had sent along. Gohan slumped in the front passenger seat of the aircar, nibbling listlessly at his breakfast. His face was pale and drawn. 

He smiled weakly at Bulma. "I guess it's a good thing that Mom packed that extra food. The kids are starved." 

"Yes, I know. They had a busy night," Bulma said archly. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Trunks, who ducked his head and stared intently at the ground. "When we get back, young man, I'm.. no. I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to let you explain personally to Chi-chi why you dragged her baby Goten with you on this little adventure." 

Trunks cringed. Goten reached over and grabbed another steamed dumpling. "Mom! That's.. that's not fair!" 

"Sounds reasonable to me. YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THE BOTH OF YOU KILLED!" Bulma wiped away a tear. "I've lost your father, I don't want to lose you. Not ever." She wiped away another tear. 

"Mom." Trunks looked ready to cry. "I didn't know it was this dangerous--I thought Gohan could protect you from anything. And I thought I could protect Goten--and I did!" he declared fiercely. 

Goten noticed that Trunks was paying no attention to his dumpling and snatched it up and stuffed it into his mouth. 

"Hey!" Trunks yelped. "This is the thanks I get for saving your life?" He reached into the hamper and grabbed another dumpling, hanging onto it tightly this time. 

"Nunk Rats, too." Goten pointed out between mouthfuls. 

"Yeah, he helped." Trunks took a bite out of his dumpling. "Told me how to kill those gaki things, and stopped the green samurai ghost." He quickly ate the rest of dumpling. "Cut his head right off!" he said with relish. "Way cool. Then on the way over, I saw him hit the red samurai, I guess that was the one that hurt Gohan, and I think he got the blue samurai, too." 

Bulma made a face. "I missed all that. I didn't see anything! Who or what is this person?" 

Trunks shrugged. "I dunno. I thought he was just Goten's imagination, you know, like a pretend friend, but then he appeared out of thin air when the green samurai came after us. And Goten called him that silly name like he knew him, and he told me how to kill the gaki, and I was pretty busy after that." 

Bulma looked ready to scream. "Trunks! You already said that part. WHAT IS HE?" 

Trunks looked puzzled. "I think he's a ghost. Maybe Goten can see ghosts." He looked thoughtful. "That would explain why he didn't want to run through the village, or go explore it." 

"ARRGGGGHHH! I figured that out already! I mean, what kind of person is he? All you've told me is that he's a he, and nothing else! For all I know, he's not even human!" 

"Well," spoke up Gohan, "if that was him that I saw just before I passed out, he was wearing Saiyan armor." 

Bulma stared at Gohan open-mouthed, and then snapped back to Trunks. "Trunks, it wasn't.. it wasn't.." her voice faltered. 

He shook his head. "No, it wasn't Father." He looked directly into his mother's eyes. "He was Saiyajin, though no one I've ever seen before. And he had a tail." He thought a moment, as his mother sat, stunned. "He called me 'young prince'; I think he knows Father." 

Bulma laughed nervously. "That would make.. a certain kind of sense." She shook her head. "I guess you just lucked out and got a guardian angel from your father's side of the family." She looked around; everyone was mostly finished eating. "Let's go, and worry about who the family ghosts are when we get home." 

Gohan looked at Bulma, worried. "Bulma, there's something wrong.. I can't sense Dad, or Piccolo, or anyone. I can't sense anyone in the whole world but the four of us." 

Bulma gulped. "And I still can't get the phone to work. Maybe the mountains are too high.. Get in, we're leaving now!" 

Within minutes, everyone was in the aircar, and it was lifting off the ground. Bulma goosed the throttle, and they roared up the valley toward some of the lower mountains. They crested the mountain and dove down into the next valley. 

"Look, there's another ruined village just like..." Bulma trailed off. She could see the ruined monastery, and the freshly cleared shrine uphill from the village. "It's the same one! Gohan, somehow I've gotten turned around. Keep an eye on the compass, the CIN-GPS isn't working for some reason." 

She tried it again, cruising over the mountain pass only to find herself heading back into the same valley. "Gohan, what is going on?" 

"The compass flipped, I saw it! Right when you entered the pass, the compass needle flipped completely around!" 

"I don't like this.." She tried departing the valley in another direction. Once again, they returned to the valley. She tried again, climbing higher, only to find the car diving toward the ground once they climbed above the highest peaks. No matter what direction they tried, they always found themselves heading back into the valley as soon as they crested the mountains or entered the pass. 

Finally, defeated, Bulma returned to their original landing site, and set the car down. "We're trapped." 

"Something doesn't want us to leave." Gohan shivered. "Something powerful. Something evil." 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER VII. SECRETS


	7. Secrets

##  VII. SECRETS

"Something dark." Gohan stared at the monastery on the mountain's slope. Both kids were napping, and Bulma was yawning. Gohan still looked thin and tired, like he'd been ill for a week. He'd been staring at the monastery, apparently lost in thought. "Something with a lot of secrets." 

Bulma looked at Gohan, determined. "Secrets we're going to learn; I don't know what we're facing, but it's got a weakness, and we're going to find out what it is." 

"It might not have a weakness, any more than Frieza did." Gohan sounded demoralized. 

"Bad example, kiddo. Whatever is here, doesn't want us talking to the outside world, and it doesn't want us leaving--it doesn't want us to bring in Goku and Piccolo and everyone. It's afraid there's someone out there that can stop whatever it is up to. Remember why Frieza was so desperate to kill all the Saiyajin?" 

The light dawned in Gohan's eyes. "Because he knew there would someday be a Saiyajin who could kill him!" 

"Exactly! And you know something? I know that whatever Goku and Piccolo can do, you can do, too! If we find out what our enemy's secrets are--" 

"We can defeat him." Gohan looked a little better, though still pale. "I'm hungry. Are there any of those dumplings left?" 

* * *

Damn. He's not in as good a shape as I thought. He should have recovered by now. Unless that demon warrior took more out of him than I thought.. But when I blew through the bastard and broke him, I didn't get that much energy--where'd it all go? Think, Raditz! 

A ghost's memory: slamming into the baleful red samurai from behind, cracking his spine; plunging a spectral hand between the demon-ghost's ribs and into the heart of his essence; ripping that heart out, stealing the soul energy of the manifestation, breaking it, forcing the ghost samurai back into the spirit world, stripped of energy--yesss! Missed before, a thin shadowy thread of spirit linking the ghost samurai to.. what? Something.. up.. there. Raditz looked at the ruined monastery. Looked again, in the spirit world. 

Aiyeeee! Would you look at the place--that's no monastery! Raditz took in the triple walls, the towers, the high central keep. I do not like this. Every otherworld fortress that I know of belongs to someone from the lower hells--including King Vegeta's new palace. Heh. Can't say I miss THAT place so very much. But this place! I've never heard of it before, and it's on the Borderlands--a reflection of something from the physical world? 

So. Something's up there, besides Yellow-belly; something the red demon-warrior was feeding power to. It's full daylight, they can't manifest anymore than I can--no threat to the living.. until dark. Let's go get Gohan's energy back before then, hmmm? Raditz smiled evilly. 

* * *

"Oooooh! If only everyone here weren't dead, or I could hear ghosts like Goten! How am I ever going to find out what is going on?" Bulma tossed her pocket comp down in a fit of annoyance. "According to the legend, the evil sorceror was either killed or imprisoned forever by some wandering holy hermit, who founded a monastery on the site. That place up there," Bulma pointed unnecessarily. "The stories don't explain what's keeping us from leaving, who those technicolor demon-warriors were, why the spring was still blocked up, or why this village is haunted." 

Gohan picked up her pocket comp and looked through the files. "Well, maybe the holy hermit didn't like the kami of the spring--she did punish the whole village because of one man, the greedy headman. A lot of innocent people might have gotten hurt because of that. The sorceror sounds like he was evil enough to kill the villagers.." 

"But the story of the hermit specifically mentions the villagers celebrating after he overcame the sorceror. I don't think they'd do that if they were dead, kiddo." She frowned. "We're missing something important here." She got out her case of capsules and searched through them. 

"Now what?" he asked as Bulma tossed a capsule to the ground and watched it swell into a flying scooter. 

"Now we're going to the spring, and maybe the monastery after that. Let the kids sleep," she said, answering his question before Gohan got any further than opening his mouth. "They're in no more danger here than they would be anywhere else, and probably safer. Just a minute while I leave a note for Trunks." 

* * *

Raditz hesitated; where in this phantasmal fortress was the power he sought? The very walls blocked his senses, and when he tried to drift over the outer wall, he found himself flung to the "ground" outside the wall. 

Crud. I hate this kind of crap. Whoever--whatever--built this damn place imposed his own rules on its reality. One of them seems to be fake gravity. Idiot. We're friggin' spirits here, what's with the fake physical bullshit? 

He wants to play at being physical, I'll go along. Heh. 

Raditz lept nimbly to the top of the outer wall. The outer court appeared to be a grassy plain; beyond it loomed the middle wall. Nothing stirred--wait! A flash of yellow, like fire, on the balcony of the middle wall. Raditz snarled, and leaped again, with a burst of power. He flung out his hand and blasted a hole through the covered balcony just before he hit it. 

Something wispy and powerless fled before him. Not the one he sought. He ignored the riotous garden filling second court, and focused on the glowing warrior mocking him from the broad stairs leading up to the base of the inner wall. 

Raditz's eyes narrowed. It was leading him on, deliberately. Why? He jumped, landing hard on the stairs. The yellow warrior started, apparently not expecting the sudden move, and ran. Raditz bolted after it, gaining rapidly--then it turned a corner and vanished. Two corridors, three doors, a not-very-secret door, no enemy. 

Crud! Doors, walls, hidden passages, vanishing enemies--screw this! He wants to get physical, let's get physical--Saiyan style! 

Raditz screamed and kicked out the side of the wall. Massive blocks of stone fell to reveal a stagnant pool filling the inner court, surrounding the central keep. He jumped straight up, tucked, rolled, and dove through the roof of the keep. Tiles and great wooden beams crashed down with him; he batted the debris aside as he landed. 

"You are a powerful one." In the center of the great hall, on an ivory throne, sat something like a man. "And wonderfully wicked--a true killer. I can taste it in your soul." 

He was chained to the throne with thin silver links--a hawk-nosed man, long dark hair tied back in a pony tail, dark unfathomable eyes. He wore yellow silk robes, ornately patterned; around them a leopardskin, held in place by a great golden clasp in the shape of a leopard's head. He clutched the arms of his throne with long bony hands tipped with incredibly long nails; thin lips curved in an evil smile. Twin spiral horns of translucent crystal rose from his temples. And he was alive! 

The shock of it stopped Raditz cold. This was the spirit of a living man, tied to a body--and more. He looked past, back into the physical world; in place of the man chained to the ivory throne, he saw a stone statue half-buried in an empty cell of the monastery. Here in the spirit plane, the man--if man he was--seethed with power. A shadow, like a second spirit, clung to his spirit form; above and around him a half-seen nimbus of unknown power hovered. Living, but bound; living, but fully aware in the spirit world; living--and more than living. 

Those unfathomable eyes looked deep into Raditz. "Yes. You have the strength; you defeated my Ochimo." His voice was vibrant, cultured, and crawled into Raditz's soul like a venomous serpent. "I know what you desire; I can give that to you. Take the place of my Ochimo, free me, and you will stand at my right hand when I stretch it out to rule. Yesss, stand at my right hand--a living man! I have the power to restore your form and your life, O lost and angry one." 

Raditz did not move, did not answer. Shock, wonder, horror flashed across his face. 

"You doubt me?" the demon-sorceror laughed coldly. "I am the Opawang; mine are the secrets of life and spirit. There are many ways I could restore you to physical existance--and if you desire true, breathing life, with all its pains and vulnerabilities, I can grant that as well. But only--" he snarled, "if you free me." 

Finally Raditz stirred. "How?" 

"Bring the living to my prison, and cause them to break the stone that imprisons me, I care not how. I will be freed, and their strength will be mine, and the Black Earth River Daughter will once again heed her master's commands and grant my wishes. Serve me, and you will be rewarded beyond your comprehension!" 

* * *

"Hmmph!" Bulma stood beside the grotto with her hands on her hips. "I don't see that anything has changed since yesterday.." She trailed off as something caught her eye in the water. She stared into the overflow basin; Gohan watched her curiously. 

"Umm, Gohan, could you come here and look at this?" Bulma sounded odd. 

"Sure." He looked in the water, noting their two reflections--no, that wasn't his reflection! That was a girl! And what he thought was Bulma's reflection was another woman, a woman with blue skin and dark green hair. He looked over his shoulder. There was no one there besides the two of them. 

"Do you suppose they know we're here?" Bulma asked nervously. She jumped as the blue woman nodded. 

"You can hear me?" The woman nodded again. 

"Can you talk to us?" The woman frowned, and shook her head. The girl behind her simply looked sad, and Bulma realized she was the ghost Bulma had seen last twilight, the pleading girl. 

"Well, at least we can handle 'yes' and 'no'. Too bad my first question is 'Who are you?'" Bulma pursed her lips. "Work with me on this." She looked at Gohan. "Gohan, if you've got any ideas or questions, out with 'em, any time. Meanwhile," she handed him her pocket comp, "keep notes." 

"Yes, ma'am." 

"Okay, you there in the pool--are you the kami of the spring?" The blue woman nodded. 

"Are you the one who is keeping us from leaving?" The kami shook her head angrily. 

"Do you know who is responsible for trapping us here?" She nodded grimly. 

"Do you grant wishes?" The kami frowned, and held up one finger, and then nodded. 

"You can grant only one wish?" The kami hesitated, shrugged, and nodded. 

"What did all that mean? Never mind, I know you can't answer that. Let me guess, you can grant one wish, but there's some kind of special condition or limitation?" The kami looked thoughtful, and nodded. 

After a frustrating hour of yes and no questions, Bulma and Gohan knew that whatever was keeping them trapped in this valley dwelt in the ruined monastery, it was the evil sorceror of legend, the sorceror had been imprisoned by the hermit a long time ago, the brightly colored demon-warriors served the evil sorceror and had killed all the people in the valley, and--this last the worst blow to Bulma--whatever the limitation on the kami's wish was, it kept her from restoring Vegeta to life. He could not be wished back to life using the kami's wish. 

Bulma almost seemed to wilt, and sat down for a while, trying futilely to hold back the tears. Finally, she wiped her eyes and nose and lifted her head. "I am NOT giving up on this! We are going to find out what the problem is, and we are going to escape this wretched valley." 

Gohan looked thoughtful. "If only she knew sign language..." 

Bulma blinked. "What? Sign language? Hand me that computer!" She almost snatched it from Gohan in her hurry. "Let me see... Indian signs.. American Sign Language.. A-HA! Japanese Sign Language. Gohan, I think you hit on one hell of an idea there!" 

She turned back to the pool. "Hey, kami-of-the-spring! You've been real patient with us so far, let's not stop now. Can you spell? You know, write? That is, if you had paper and ink and brush? Or read?" 

The kami looked puzzled, but nodded. 

"Great! Watch me, and listen up, 'cause Bulma's gonna teach you something important!" She dug around in her pockets, and came up with a pen and paper, which she gave to Gohan. 

"Gohan, draw the katakana characters for me." After he drew the first one, Bulma snatched it up, and held it up for the kami to view. Gohan continued to draw the characters. 

Bulma made the sign for the character. "This is 'shi'," she enunciated carefully. "Repeat it back so I know you've got it." 

Dawning wonder spread over the kami's reflected face, and she hesitantly made the sign back to Bulma. 

"Yes! You've got it! Now, the next sign is..." 

* * *

"Can't you hurry it up? My babies are out there somewhere, and no one can find them!" Chi-chi yelled at Dr. Briefs, who was working on the computer Bulma had used. "Goku, are you sure you can't find them?" 

Goku shook his head. "Piccolo and I have both searched everywhere. Neither of us can sense them anywhere." Piccolo said nothing, but just stood there scowling. Goku still looked worried. "I even asked King Kai, and he couldn't find them either." He couldn't bring himself to voice the one grim possibility that would explain his inability to find them. 

He didn't need to. The growing terror in Chi-chi's eyes and voice showed that she already knew of that possibility. No! Somehow, they would find them. The only clue Goku knew of was in the computer files and reports that Gohan and Bulma had been pouring over for weeks, but Goku knew about as much about computers as Dr. Briefs did about fighting. Chi-chi and Piccolo weren't much better, so they'd called Dr. Briefs to help. 

Bulma's father had not been worried that Bulma was missing, at first--he was used to her disappearing on strange adventures only to turn up at home, months later, with exciting stories and weird new friends. Goku and Chi-chi's evident worry got him to worrying, too; what had happened to his little girl, and his grandson? Losing his son-in-law had been bad enough... 

"Ah, here it is." Dr. Briefs stubbed out the cigarette he'd been smoking. "Interesting little place--" At Chi-chi's scowl, he cut off what'd he'd been about to say. "What you'll want are the coordinates of the place." He pulled a small device out of his pocket, spoke a string of numbers into it, and tossed it to Piccolo. "That's a handheld CIN-GPS; I've programmed the location of the village Bulma meant to investigate into it. Just follow the directional indicator until you get there; range is that number at the lower left. At the lower right is the switch for the map display, if you want to see where you are." 

"Thanks!" Goku grinned, his optimism returning. "Piccolo?" 

Piccolo was already on his way out the door. "See if you can keep up, Goku," he challenged in his usual slightly sinister voice. 

As Dr. Briefs watched them go, he wondered aloud, "Should I have mentioned the folklore report? Bulma did have it marked 'PRIVATE', but there's some pretty scary stuff in there." 

"OH, REALLY??" Chi-chi said. 

* * *

Raditz stared at the Opawang, paralyzed by the enormity of the demon-sorceror's offer. To be restored to life, and power--to have a body again, to breathe, to eat, to enjoy all the pleasures of mortal life--to fight again as one living, pitting his strength and power against a foe, risking everything in the fury of combat--oh yes! That would be joy! 

But the cost: to break his promise to Vegeta--to fail him yet again. To throw away all honor, all trust, all respect to restore his life--as he had once done, trying to save his own life in the fight with his brother Kakarott. To betray the innocent child--his own nephew--who trusted him--that he had never done. 

So many tyrants had ruled him... King Vegeta's command: "Serve me!" Frieza's orders: "Serve me!" Young Prince Vegeta's command: "Serve me!" The Opawang's demand: "Serve me!" 

..and in Hell, Vegeta's plea: "Protect THEM." 

It wasn't a hard decision at all. 

He raised his head, and looked behind. The yellow Ochimo guarded the doorway into the hall, watching and waiting. Raditz turned back to face the Opawang. 

"What of your other Ochimo?" 

"Weaklings. They could not defeat you, they are of no further use to me. You are stronger than they, and far more worthy." Dark shadows seemed to fill the hall, emanating from the Opawang's throne. 

Raditz laughed. Yeah, he'd have been just an expendable tool to this bastard, too. "Go to Hell! In fact," he grinned evilly, "I'll send you there!" At the speed of thought, the ghost katana appeared in his left hand, and he dove forward-- 

\--or started to. The dark shadows seemed to take substance, become cords of darkness that wrapped around his ankles, wrists, legs, body. Each touch was cold, draining the energy from Raditz--only the merest trickle at first, but there were so many... 

"You arrogant fool! Pathetic ghost, I am the Opawang, the Dead Spirit King! You are so perfectly vulnerable to MY power--" the chained sorceror laughed chillingly. "a pity you would not join me. I could have used a spirit of your rare power and violence." He snarled. "If you will not serve me, you will FEED me!" 

Raditz felt his strength draining away through the shadow cords to feed the Opawang. One chance, before I'm too weak. He gathered his strength, and slashed the katana across the cords just as he hurled himself away from the Opawang--and straight at the yellow Ochimo. 

The ki-sucking cords parted, and the Opawang screamed with rage. "Stop him, Ochimo of Fire! Don't let him escape!" 

The Ochimo of Fire never had a chance. Raditz slashed him across the throat with the blade even as he plunged his right hand into the ghost's chest and ripped out his heart and power. He didn't stop, but slammed through the broken spirit, and through all the walls and doors between him and the outside. 

Once beyond the fortress's weird pseudo-physics, he turned to face it. It looked like a rather large projectile had smashed through it from keep to outer gate. Nothing pursued him, so Raditz took a moment to absorb the power he had stolen from the Fire Ochimo. It was not as much as had been stolen from Gohan, but it would do. Between the red Ochimo and the Fire Ochimo, he'd taken enough power back to get Gohan back in fighting shape. 

Kakarott's kid would need it. The Opawang had to be the one responsible for trapping them in this valley, and Raditz knew one thing for sure; he, Raditz, could not defeat the Opawang alone. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER VIII. AT THE SPRING


	8. At the Spring

## VIII. AT THE SPRING

"Come on, sleepy-head! Get up!" Trunks shook Goten, who yawned and turned over. 

"You'll miss lunch..." the purple-haired boy said enticingly. 

"Mmph?" Goten opened both eyes and looked around. Trunks waved a baked meat pie just out of reach. "Gimme!" Goten jumped and tried to grab it. 

Trunks snatched it back. "That was rude. No lunch until you're up, and you ask nicely." 

Goten stood up on the bunk. "Gimme, please!" 

Trunks sighed and handed him the meat pie. "I guess that'll do. Listen, Mom and Gohan have gone off to the spring on the other side of the village while we were asleep. I think we should go with them; Gohan was hurt bad last night, and I can protect Mom if those monsters attack again." 

Goten frowned and looked worried. "Bad things get Nan Bulma?" He stopped eating the baked wrap. 

"No, no. I'm just worried that they MIGHT, if I'm not there." He was stuffing some more meat pies in his pack. "Besides, your friend said we should be with them, because he can't protect people in two different places at once. He was right, and that works for Gohan, too. He can't protect us and Mom if we're in different places." Trunks tossed a first aid kit in on top, and closed the pack. "Pull your clothes on and let's go!" 

A few minutes later they stood at the edge of the village. Trunks turned to encourage Goten, and was startled to see him charging through the village already. He scampered to catch up with him. 

"Hey! I thought you were too scared of the ghosts to just run through here like this!" 

"Nunk Rats scared ghosts," Goten answered confidently. 

"Uh, yeah. I guess he would." Trunks thought briefly of the fierce Saiyan warrior who had appeared and destroyed the green demon-samurai. I'll have to ask Father about him when he gets back. 

* * *

Well, at least that wasn't a complete fiasco. Now where have Gohan and Bulma gotten to? I see; the spring. And the kids.. aren't with them. Great. I really needed this. Didn't you people learn anything from last night? 

The kids are back at camp--no, they're not. There they are, in the middle of the village, heading west. Why? 

Raditz watched as Trunks paused at the western edge of the village to read a map. Along with the map, Trunks carried a note. Raditz looked at them both. 

He's going to the spring. Good, everybody will be in one place, but why--oh, crud. Of course, the note his mother left for him. Is that crazy woman really going up to the ruined monastery? This is bad. Very, very bad. How the hell do I stop her? Vegeta, my prince, what the hell did you talk me into? 

* * *

"This has been so cool; we can actually hold a conversation now! Gohan, read back what we've found out." Bulma was jubilant. 

Gohan adjusted the pocket comp. "Well, the kami in the pool is the Black Earth River Daughter; she's the daughter of the mountain kami Black Earth Mountain Sister. The evil sorceror is called the Opawang, and he holds Black Earth River Daughter hostage--he's captured part of her soul, so she has to obey him and grant him wishes. Because he holds Mountain Sister's daughter hostage, the Mountain Sister obeys the Opawang, too--that's why we couldn't leave, and that's why no one can get in; the mountain kami is using her power to confuse and hide travelers to trap us. River Daughter can only grant one wish per century, and her wishes only affect things and people within this valley--where she has power--that's why she can't bring Vegeta back, he's not in the valley. The Opawang is imprisoned somehow in the monastery, and the colored demon-warriors are the Ochimo, Spirit Warriors of the elements in his service. They're all dead, like the villagers, but their master has given them the power to drain ki and feed it to him, increasing his power. Now that the monastery is deserted and all the holy monks gone, the evil spirits are free to do their master's bidding." Gohan stopped for breath. "Oh, yes, and she can't talk to people because the Opawang took away her voice." 

"So all we have to do to get out of here is free the River Daughter from the Opawang's power, and then the Mountain Sister would probably stop following his orders. Is that true?" Bulma asked the River Daughter. 

The reflection in the pool signed back, <That is true. We hate evil and would rebel against the Opawang the instant we were free.>

"But how do we free you? I still can't figure that out--do you have any ideas? I know you're very smart, to learn signing that fast." 

The kami frowned and shrugged. <I don't know how you can; he holds part of my essence in a cage in his fortress, in the spirit world. You would have to be a spirit to go there, but his power is absolute over spirits--he is the Opawang, the Dead Spirit King. Spirits cannot fight him; they would be devoured or imprisoned.>

"I thought you said he was imprisoned! And there are ghosts all over the place here, they haven't been eaten or captured by this Opawang!" 

<Not so. The Opawang's body is imprisoned in stone in this world, and his spirit is chained to his body, so that it cannot stray from his throne in the otherworld--but my stolen half-soul is kept near his throne, and within his power. Outside his fortress, he has to use his servants, the Ochimo. They can drain the ghosts of the village, but they are forbidden to enter village dwellings, so the villagers hide indoors whenever the Ochimo are about.>

"Hmmm.. That might be why the Blue Ochimo acted so confused when it chased me into the camp house. It was a dwelling, I suppose, but not a village dwelling. I bet it didn't know whether or not it was supposed to be there! Lucky for me, I guess.." 

She paced, deep in thought. "If only there were a way to bring the Opawang's fortress into this world! Then maybe we could figure out a way to defeat him and free the River Daughter." 

Gohan looked unhappy. "I suppose we could wish it here... but that might make things worse." 

"We're trapped in this valley and at night we'll be hunted by soul-stealing demon-warriors or eaten by those ghoul-things that attacked Trunks. How could we make things worse?" Bulma asked. 

"I'm not sure, but I have a bad feeling about it." So, apparently, did the kami; she looked very disturbed. 

"All we have to do is figure out how to phrase the wish. The fortress is some kind of construct in the spirit world, but we have to make sure we get the stolen half-soul as well as the fortress--so we have to wish ALL spirit and spirit things in the kami's power back to this world." Bulma smiled, her eyes shining with excitement. "That would get not only the fortress, and the kami's stolen half-soul, it would bring all the poor villagers back to life! It's perfect! Let's do it!" 

Gohan nodded, caught up in Bulma's enthusiasm. "Let's do it!" 

Bulma turned to the kami in the pool. "Black Earth River Daughter, I wish that ALL spirits and spirit things in your reach be restored to life or transferred to the physical world!" 

<Thy wish is granted!> The pool swirled, and turned inky black; the spring in the grotto thundered; water poured from the grotto and overflowed the pool, rising in a swirling cyclone; the sky turned dark and the earth trembled; a waterspout formed, rose high into the air, and exploded; sheets of spray crashed down all around. Bulma hugged Gohan and held him tight through the chaos surrounding them. 

A little ways downhill, Trunks grabbed a bent old treetrunk, and grabbed Goten's arm as the earth shook and tried to throw them back down the hill; Goten had already seized Trunk's nearest leg and gripped it as tightly as he could. A spray of water, like some torrential hurricane downpour, fell out of the sky and soaked them. 

* * *

(!) 

Heart.. beating? 

What the--? I'M ALIVE! 

* * *

The sky cleared, the earth quieted, and the pool returned to being just a pool--except for the farm girl sitting in the middle of it sputtering and wiping wet hair out of her face. It was the girl of the second reflection, the pleading ghost, looking very much alive and well. Bulma looked at her, and reached out a hand to help her up. 

"Hi! I'm Bulma, welcome back to the living!" The girl smiled, and grabbed Bulma's hand and pulled herself to her feet. Bulma glared at Gohan, who seemed to have forgotten his manners, and was standing motionless, staring wide-eyed and horrified at her. No, staring at something behind her. She started to turn around-- 

"That was a remarkably careless wish." A soft, fierce voice, somehow familiar. Bulma spun around. 

Raditz sat on the stone wall about ten feet away, very much alive. He looked as she remembered him from that dreadful day when Goku first died--a big, powerful Saiyan with incredibly long, full hair, wearing Saiyan armor with the extended shoulder pieces. His armor appeared a bit worse for the wear: a large fist-size hole burned through the middle of the chest (and back, Bulma knew), but the body underneath the armor seemed intact, if a bit wet. He smirked. 

"EEEEEEEE! You're Goku's evil brother Raditz! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Bulma could not keep the fear out of her voice. 

"It's so nice to be remembered. You just wished me back, you know. I do thank you for that." He looked amused. 

"Raditz!" Gohan growled, crouched in fighting stance. He began to power up. "I'm a lot stronger now, and I remember what you did to my dad!" 

Raditz looked at him oddly. "Kid, that's very old history. Don't be an idiot; I'm not the enemy here." He started to get to his feet-- 

\--at that moment, Goten charged up the trail into the shrine, Trunks chasing after him. "Nunk Rats! NUNK RATS!" He bolted past Gohan and jumped on Raditz, hitting him full in the chest. Off balance, Raditz staggered and went down, Goten on top of him. 

Goten stood on his chest, yelling with delight. "NUNK RATS FUN! NUNK RATS FUN!" He grabbed a handful of the Saiyan's hair. "Got hair now!" Goten laughed happily. 

Gohan's jaw dropped; Bulma stood there gaping like a fish. They looked at each other, stunned. 

"'Nunk Rats' is RADITZ???" Bulma's eyes bulged with incredulity. 

Gohan blinked. "'Nunk Rats'.. Uncle Raditz. Of course." He looked appalled. "How?" 

Trunks staggered in, chest heaving from exertion. He was too winded to speak. 

Goten stopped laughing for a second, and looked slyly at Raditz. "Nunk Rats fair? Goten no fair?" 

Raditz, still flat on his back, grinned, and reached a hand up and gently tweaked Goten's nose. "Fair, kid. You can touch me, I can touch you. Heh." 

"Oops." Goten rubbed his nose and laughed. "Nunk Rats fair an' fun!" 

"I gotta agree with you on that, kid. It's definitely more fun this way." He ruffled Goten's hair fondly. 

Bulma raised an eyebrow. "Gohan, I find it hard to be terrified of someone who is flat on his back having a conversation with a two-year-old. I think you can stand down, kiddo." 

"He.. knows him. Goten really can see ghosts!" Gohan sounded as shocked as he looked. 

Trunks finally got his breath back. "Hey, Mom, that's the guy I told you about, the one that fought the demon-warriors!" 

Raditz finally sat up, gently depositing Goten on the ground. "You did a good job cleaning up those gaki yourself, young prince." He flashed Trunks a thumbs-up. "Did Vegeta teach you that area blast, or--" 

Trunks shook his head. "Father mentioned it a few times, but hadn't taught it to me yet. I figured out how it had to work, and tried it. It worked." He smiled proudly. 

Bulma threw up her hands. "Well, it's nice to know you're all cozy with each other! Why am I the last person to know about this??" 

Gohan muttered, "I didn't know about it." He looked at his little brother Goten, who was happily climbing Raditz's hair to sit on his shoulder. He felt betrayed. How could his little brother like this.. person who had hurt Dad and caused his death? 

"--And will someone explain to me why Raditz's ghost was here to be wished back in the first place??" She put her hands on her hips and glared at Raditz. "Let's start with the former ghost; maybe you have some answers!" 

Raditz smiled slyly, his eyes half-closed. "Vegeta asked me to watch over you and Trunks, and protect you as best I could, so I did." He got to his feet, setting Goten down again. 

"Y-Y-You've been following me around as a ghost? I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!" Bulma sputtered. "Can't a girl have any privacy?" In spite of his feelings about Raditz, Gohan couldn't help snickering. 

Raditz blushed. "I haven't been following you THAT closely," he muttered. Gohan had to sit down, he was laughing so hard. Bulma glared at him. Trunks blushed but chose wisely to keep quiet. 

"Of all the people Vegeta could have picked--why did he pick--Oh! I guess he didn't have a lot of choices, did he?" Raditz nodded briefly. "Why wasn't Vegeta here himself?" Bulma asked wistfully, tears starting to fill her eyes. 

Raditz looked at the distant mountains, avoiding Bulma's eyes. "You know he can't be wished back with the dragonballs a second time. He couldn't.. he couldn't take knowing you were alone and unprotected--" (and that you were crying yourself to sleep every night for grief of him--but Raditz couldn't bring himself to say something so.. unsaiyan), "--so he went on a quest to find his way back." 

"Back?" Bulma looked both worried and skeptical. 

"To life." 

A single tear ran down her face as she smiled. "Of course! He never took 'impossible' as an answer--he'd always plot a way around whatever was stopping him." Her mood shifted, "But if he'd been following me around, instead of you, he would have been wished back right now! The idiot! Ooooohh! When I see him again..." 

"Bulma. I think you should see this." Gohan looked uphill, his voice oddly strained. She turned to look. 

"Oh.. my." The Opawang's fortress loomed above the mountainside where the ruined monastery once stood. Three encircling, tiered walls and a high central keep; keen-eyed Raditz grinned as he noted the great hole blasted through the outer gate. "I guess the wish really worked." 

Raditz scowled. "Possibly too well--there were some.. nasty things wandering about the spirit realm--and you just brought them to life." 

"Why? Is it something you can't handle?" Bulma's hands were on her hips, her words a challenge. 

"I didn't say that!" Raditz glared at her. 

"Do you mean the demon-warriors?" Trunks ventured. 

"No. I can handle them. It's their master, the--" 

"--the Opawang," Bulma interrupted. 

Raditz looked surprised. "How--" 

Bulma pointed to the pool. "We've been having quite a conversation with the Black Earth River Daughter. She's very talkative once you figure out how." 

The young farmer girl, who had been sitting quietly listening to everything in obvious bewilderment, jumped up at the mention of the Opawang. Fear filled her eyes. "No! You must not! Oh please, tell me you have not freed him!" 

Bulma patted her and spoke soothingly. "Of course not, we would never turn such a monster loose." She glared sidelong at Raditz. 

Raditz looked at Bulma almost pityingly. "Don't be a fool, woman! The Ochimo serve him, and your wish would have restored them as well. As living beings, they can almost certainly free their master." 

"How do you know that?" Bulma's voice was tight with fear. 

Raditz smirked. "The Opawang told me how to free him, when I paid him a visit in the spirit realm. It wouldn't be hard." His tail unfurled and switched from side to side. 

"You.. talked to him?" Gohan growled dangerously. 

"Heh. Yeah. He was impressed with how I easily I defeated his Ochimo. He wanted me to serve him in their place. His offer was.. very attractive." Raditz's half-smile seemed very evil. 

Gohan's voice was flat with anger. "Attractive enough?" 

Raditz smirked, glancing sidelong at Trunks and Bulma. "I told him to go to Hell." His tail twitched. "I don't expect you to understand, kid, I don't expect that anyone who hasn't been there could understand--but I'm tired of being some bastard's expendable flunky. Opawang's just another Frieza as far as I'm concerned. 

"He doesn't take rejection very well. I found out how dangerous he is; I couldn't fight him. Not as a ghost. I barely got away from him." Raditz's voice was impassive, but his tail twitched; running from the Opawang grated on him. "Did some damage on the way out; the Fire Ochimo won't be quite the same for a long time." Raditz smirked again. 

"By the way, kid, I have something that belongs to you." He moved suddenly, closing with Gohan. Gohan flung his arm out to block the blow, but Raditz's touch was light as a feather. Golden light flared, and Gohan felt warmth filling him and his strength returning. 

"What--" he gasped, swaying with the shock of it. 

Bulma shrieked. "You bastard! What did you do to him?" 

"No, it's okay, Bulma." Gohan got his voice back. "I was just startled. He gave me my energy back, I think." Gohan looked puzzled. "How did you--" 

Raditz shrugged. "You were in no shape to fight; I need you able to fight. The Earth Ochimo and the Fire Ochimo provided the energy, though not.." Raditz smirked once again, "voluntarily." 

Bulma looked sheepish. "Oh. Sorry I screamed at you. You're not someone I expect the best of, you know." 

"I know." He was abrupt. "Get over it! You are my prince's consort, Trunks is the young prince, Gohan and Goten are my nephews and Kakarott's sons. I'm not Frieza's flunky anymore, Vegeta isn't in the planetary extermination business anymore, and I like to think I've gotten over being a total ass." His tail furled about his waist again. 

He looked down at Bulma, arms crossed, speaking in that soft, fierce voice. "Understand this, woman--you, your son, and Kakarott's sons are under MY protection! I would not harm any of you, and I would die again before I let anyone else hurt you! Do you understand me?" 

Bulma gulped and stepped back. "I think.. I understand." 

Gohan stepped forward. "I'm protecting Bulma," he said flatly. The challenge was in his eyes as he glared at Raditz. 

Raditz simply looked exasperated. "Gohan," his tail uncurled and was lashing back and forth again, "you are more powerful than I," Raditz seemed pained at the admission, "but, one, I'm responsible to Prince Vegeta for Bulma and Trunks' safety; two, I intend to give a good answer to Kakarott about YOUR safety when this is all over; and three, Bulma and I are the only adults here--and Bulma doesn't fight. I think that leaves me in charge, kid. Not that I'd stop you or Trunks from protecting Bulma--but I'm protecting both of YOU.." he paused to let it sink in, "so when I say 'duck' or 'get the hell off the battlefield', you do it! Do you understand?" 

Gohan glared at him, still angry. "Bulma?" 

"I hate to admit it, kiddo, but what Raditz said makes a certain amount of sense. However.." she looked at Raditz, "I'm responsible to Goku and Chi-chi for Gohan's safety and this group in general. I'm in charge until the fighting starts, and the minute it stops. Got that?" 

Raditz's tail lashed back and forth. "I don't like it--but I'll live with it." His eyes narrowed as he looked at Gohan. "What about you, kid? If I can't depend on you in the middle of a fight..." 

Gohan nodded, looking unhappy. "Just.. I won't do anything Dad wouldn't do. Remember that!" 

Raditz looked even more annoyed; the vein on his forehead stood out. "Don't be a fool! I am NOT going to tell you to commit mass murder or anything like that!" 

"You did tell dad--" Gohan muttered. 

"*Ahem*" Bulma tapped her foot impatiently. "Good, now that that's SETTLED.." She glared at both of them; Raditz calmed down somewhat. 

She shook her head. "I'm going to have fun explaining this to Goku and Chi-chi when we get back. 'Goku, your baby and Trunks sneaked off to join us, it turns out all the folklore about an evil sorceror and soul-eating ghosts is true, and oh by the way we wished back your dead brother Raditz and he's in charge'." She rolled her eyes. "Now I know how Kulilin felt when he was sent to tell Chi-chi that Goku was dead and Gohan was kidnapped by Piccolo. Well, at least I wouldn't eat dinner, spend the night, and run away without even breaking the news!" 

Raditz looked a bit puzzled, and shrugged. Not his problem. Goten, who had climbed back up his hair to his shoulder again, laughed and gripped his uncle's hair tightly. Raditz glanced around. "Now that we're done with that, is there anything to eat around here? I'm hungry!" 

"ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!" 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER IX. OVERCONFIDENCE?


	9. Overconfidence?

## IX. OVERCONFIDENCE?

"No! I am NOT going to have you and the kids scattered all over this damn valley again! Not with those elemental samurai bastards and who knows what else running around... It was a enough of a nightmare the first time!" Raditz was adamant; he stood with his arms crossed and glared down at Bulma. 

Bulma wasn't having any of it. "Excuse me? We are not taking Goten or Trunks anywhere near a fight that has you and Gohan in it--NO WAY! I've nearly gotten killed just standing within a mile of fights like that--I will NOT take the kids into that kind of mess. I never saw you fight Goku, but when Gohan gets fired up, it's like being near a small nuclear war! Besides, you've already admitted that Trunks can fight, if necessary." She glared back, hands on her hips. 

Raditz scowled. "He's pretty good--for his age." He paused, trying to find the words that wouldn't wound the boy's pride. "But he doesn't yet have the EXPERIENCE! For all his power, he would have died last night if I hadn't been there to take on the Ochimo--because he had no way of knowing how to fight the bastard!" Raditz nodded toward the looming castle. "What other surprises are up there? What else might come hunting you while we are up there fighting who knows what? If you come with Gohan and I, I know where you are, I know where 'they' are, and we can keep any unpleasant surprises away from you and the kids. What part of that don't you understand? You keep looking at me like you don't know the language I'm speaking." 

Bulma looked like she was ready to scream. "Is being thick-headed and stubborn standard for all Saiyans? You, Vegeta,.. even Goku drives me crazy sometimes!" 

Raditz started to retort, but Gohan interrupted him. "Bulma, you and the kids could wait for us in that sheltered spot below the walls--you'd be close enough that we could get to you if there was trouble, but the mountain wall should protect you from stray blasts and things like that." 

Raditz frowned. "I don't like it--they'd be too far away to keep an eye on." 

Bulma scowled. "I don't like it--we'd be too close to trouble." 

Gohan shrugged. "Well, I tried." 

Bulma looked at Raditz thoughtfully. "I suppose," she said, "it's what we'll do." 

An ironic smirk. "Classic compromise--we both hate it. Yeah, that's what we'll do." 

* * *

"This doesn't make sense, Goku." Piccolo and Goku hovered above the mountains. "No matter what we try, we can't reach these coordinates. It's like a chunk of the map has been removed from existance." 

Goku closed his eyes, listening, sensing. Finally he opened them. "No. Something is blocking us; I can feel it. Feel for it, Piccolo." 

Piccolo closed his eyes and cleared his mind. "I feel it now. Like a barrier to the spirit--a barrier that says 'Go away, there's nothing here, go around'--" 

Goku looked uncharacteristically worried. "I can't get past it," he added, "No matter what I try." 

* * *

Raditz soared above the wall, followed closely by Gohan. The big Saiyan pointed out the broken southeastern roof of the main keep. "In through there, all the way down, is his throne. Do you actually know what we're looking for? I didn't see anything that looked like--" 

A great note pealed out, near deafening them; the whole mountain rang like a gong. The sky turned dark above the keep; black clouds whirled and rapidly spread out from there to cover the whole valley. The wind howled and lashed them, where it was stillness but moments before. 

Raditz alighted atop the outer wall, Gohan beside him. "What the hell is happening? I don't like the look of this!" 

Gohan scanned the sky worriedly. "This.. looks too much like a dragon summoning--but there's no dragon." 

"So someone--namely, the Opawang--is summoning something else. I'm not waiting until he finishes the job!" Raditz snapped, and plunged back into the sky. He dodged as lightning cracked down from the black sky, and dove toward the hole in the roof--only to stop short. The hole was gone; the roof stood whole, as if it had never been damaged. 

Raditz summoned energy, cupped it in his hand, and threw it. The entire roof exploded. A few flaming beams fell from the far side of the keep, but the rest of the roof was utterly gone--vaporized. Raditz looked down. 

The Ochimo of Fire was waiting for him; not a spirit this time, but a living warrior hovering in mid-air, crackling with flame. He extended his hand and flung a bolt of fire at Raditz. Raditz blocked and deflected it, sending it splashing against the inner wall. He sneered. 

"You losers just don't get it, do you? You're so outclassed it's pathetic! If I wasn't looking for something here, I could just vaporize this whole damn castle in one blast, and be done with the lot of you! Better run while you still can." 

He glanced up at Gohan. "I'll amuse myself with this fool and whoever else joins in; you get down there and find the kami's soul-cage." Raditz dove into the Fire Ochimo, sliding past his blade and slamming his fist deep into the Ochimo's gut. 

"AAAAGGGGHHH!" 

PAIN! The nimbus of fire around the Ochimo was no illusion, and no earthly fire. It seared Raditz as he struck, assaulting his defenses with the power of his own blow turned against him. Raditz's blow flung the Ochimo against the wall with shattering force; Raditz reeled in mid-air, holding his seared arm. The Ochimo dropped limply to the floor below; Gohan plummeted past, looking for the soul-cage. The ivory throne was empty. The room was not. 

The Earth Ochimo's sword sliced through the air; Gohan dodged it easily, and struck back. He was rocked back by the force of his own blow; the Earth Ochimo was as hard and heavy as stone! Gohan set his teeth and summoned power; the whole room shook. 

The Fire Ochimo stirred and ascended once again; he appeared unhurt, as if Raditz had never struck him. Beams of white-hot flame shot from his eyes. Raditz dodged, and flung energy back. The sphere of energy enveloped his enemy and detonated, blowing a large hole in the wall behind him. The Fire Ochimo's flame vanished, as if it had been blown out by a high wind. The elemental warrior appeared otherwise unhurt. 

Gohan blasted his opponent; the Earth Ochimo tumbled before the column of white-hot energy like a leaf in a hurricane. He crashed all the way through the thick stone wall and disappeared with a loud splash. Gohan looked hurriedly around the room. It was circular and rimmed with statue-filled alcoves alternating with closed doors. The ivory throne sat on a low dias in the center of the room, facing an entrance hall to the east. He saw nothing that looked like it might be the soul-cage of the kami. Gohan calmed himself and concentrated, trying to sense what might be here. 

Raditz hit the Fire Ochimo again, with less force--a blow he could stop with his own defenses, should it be somehow turned against him again. The Ochimo slammed into the wall again, and Raditz felt no pain. Without that nimbus of fire, the Ochimo was nearly defenseless! Raditz grinned evilly. 

Gohan sensed Raditz and the rapidly fading power of the Fire Ochimo, the Earth Ochimo crawling out of the pool outside, another similar power somewhere below, dark, horrid spirits in the sky above, and something horribly powerful and evil to the northwest, beyond the pool--and it was AWARE of him! 

"AAH!" Gohan gasped out. "Raditz, IT KNOWS WE'RE HERE! This is a trap!" 

"What?" There was a small explosion of fire, and something limp and bloody tumbled to the floor. The Fire Ochimo was no more. "So what if it is? They have a few surprises, but not enough power! Where's that damn soul-cage?" 

"You don't understand--I sensed its power! It's horrible--like Frieza or Cell all over again." 

"Its power? Gohan, what are you talking about? Whose power?" 

"MINE, young fools!" 

He stood on air, hovering above them, garbed in the yellow silk robes of an emperor, wrapped in a leopardskin cape secured with a golden leopard's head clasp. Long black hair tied back in the fashion of a great noble, fine, proud features, dark unfathomable eyes, and twin translucent horns spiralling from his temples, glowing with their own light. 

The Opawang looked down at the two Saiyans, and held out in one hand the limp body of Goten. Beside him hovered the other two Ochimo; one held Trunks, unconscious, and the other held Bulma, also unconscious. 

The Opawang smiled. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER X. THE OPAWANG


	10. The Opawang

## X. THE OPAWANG

Bulma yawned and awoke. Her head ached abominably; she groaned and started to open her eyes. 

"Mom?" Trunk's voice sounded anxious. He sat beside her, looking worried. Bulma blinked, and looked around. They were in a strange room, furnished in antique oriental splendor: silk wall hangings, fine Persian rug, black-lacquered, brass-trimmed furniture, ornate brass--or was it gold?--lamps.. 

"Where are we?" she asked. She sat up, and groaned again as her head spun. Trunks looked a bit under the weather as well. 

"I think we're prisoners in the castle." He nodded discretely, indicating the guard at the other end of the room. Bulma recognized the muscular woman in blue-lacquered armor; she'd appeared at their camp... 

Bulma remembered now. She, Trunks and Goten had been waiting the outcome of Gohan and Raditz's raid when the woman in blue samurai armour appeared out of nowhere. 

She simply said, "The Opawang desires your presence," and breathed out a strange mist that swiftly enveloped them. Bulma couldn't remember anything after that. 

Bulma looked around. "Trunks, where's Goten?" She couldn't keep the fear out of her voice. 

Trunks looked at the floor. "I don't know. He wasn't here when I woke up." 

Bulma struggled to her feet and confronted the blue samurai woman. "What did you creeps do with Goten? Where's the baby?" 

The woman looked at her impassively. "He is the Opawang's hostage, as are you, that the others with you might learn good manners and obedience." 

Bulma thought briefly of Gohan--good kid, but tendency to berserk-- and Raditz-- pure Saiyan ferocity and temper. "Raditz, learn manners? We're dead. We're all dead." A look of cold determination settled across her face. 

In one sudden move, she slapped the samurai woman across the face, as hard as she could, and screamed. "TRUNKS, HELP ME KILL THIS BITCH!" 

Trunks leaped across the room and smashed into the armored woman's right knee, toppling her to the floor. Bulma kicked her in the face, which didn't appear to damage her anymore than her slap had. 

"Don't let her breathe that mist! That's what put us to sleep before!" Bulma kicked her again in the mouth; the samurai woman rolled and crouched on one knee. She inhaled-- 

Trunks hit her hard in the solar plexis, slamming her into the silk wall hangings and the stone wall behind them. She gagged and choked. Trunks seized energy and hurled it, pinning the blue-armored woman to the wall in a blast of ki. The back-blast filled most of the room. 

* * *

Raditz settled beside Gohan, still watching the Opawang. "When this is all over," he muttered to Gohan, "I am going to take great pleasure in telling that fool woman 'I told you so'." 

The Opawang's voice rang out. "You still don't know what you are dealing with, my pretty innocents. You, the tall one," he pointed one long lacquered nail at Raditz, "do you really think you are any more dangerous as a mortal than you were as a ghost? Pathetic, deluded fool! You have some power, as does this child, but it matters not. You could have all the power in the world, it would not suffice." 

"If you're such a bad boy," Raditz challenged, "why do you need a baby to shield yourself?" 

"Raditz!" Gohan whispered. "Something's wrong! Can you sense ki?" 

"I don't know, I've never tried--not in this world. If it's like sensing spirits in the otherworld--perhaps. I'll try it sometime." Raditz whispered back. 

Gohan continued quickly. "I can't sense anybody up there besides the Opawang and Goten--but I can sense Bulma and Trunks off to the northwest--not here!" 

The Opawang answered. "I would let you test your strength against me, that you might know the futility of it and despair, but you are indiscriminately destructive--and I find rebuilding my residence an annoying waste of power and time. I curb your destructiveness with the knowledge that you might destroy those you protect." 

He continued, "Count yourself blessed, for rare indeed is it that I make the same offer twice! But your woman has set me free and restored my servants and my stronghold to power; let it not be said that the Opawang is ungrateful! Serve me, you, the child and the others, and you will reap rewards beyond your comprehension!" 

Raditz whispered back to Gohan, "So the two Ochimo with Bulma and Trunks are just holograms of some kind? Yeah, then all we have to do is get Goten away from Hornhead there." He smirked, and continued, "The bastards have surprise defenses and odd powers, but once you get past those, they're weak--and their attacks are pathetic. We've got speed on them, too. I'll hit Hornhead, you grab Goten. Any surprises, I'll try to deal with them, your number one goal is to rescue the kid. Do what you have to, don't get diverted, and I can be a lot freer in dealing with surprises if I don't have to worry about Goten. Got it?" 

Gohan nodded abruptly. "Yes!" 

"Well?" called the Opawang. "It isn't that difficult a decision--" He broke off, looking northwest. "By the Dark Serpent! How can a mere child--" 

Raditz slammed into the Opawang--and nearly broke his shoulder. A stone wall would have been softer. Gohan grabbed for Goten, only to see Goten and the Opawang disappear out from under his grasp. 

The Opawang reappeared about fifty feet above them. "You want the child? Take him!" He hurled Goten down with tremendous force; Gohan swerved to catch him. "MIT-TEN EM TEKAU PEST!" He hurled a sphere of white power from his hand; it branched into nine seething balls of energy hurtling towards the three saiyajin. 

Gohan snatched Goten in midair and hurled himself sideways. "Raditz, LOOK OUT!" He sheltered his kid brother with his body as he blew through the side of the keep and out of the path of the spheres. 

Warned by Gohan's shout, Raditz threw his hands up in a full ki-block; the spheres slammed into it and slammed him into the floor. The floor broke beneath him as he held onto the block with all his will; he fell further into a subterranean chamber and smashed into the ground. The titanic forces he fought to hold off crushed him into the earth; no further retreat possible. His block broke, and the spheres exploded. 

WHOOOOM-WHOOOM-WHOOOM-WH-WH-WHOOOM-WHOOOM-WH-WHOOOM! Nine tremendous detonations almost at once deafened Gohan. A great cloud of smoke and ash billowed up, hiding the former keep. 

Gohan looked around, senses aware. The Opawang had vanished--ah, there! To the northwest, near Bulma and Trunks. Not good. What about Raditz? Had he survived? Gohan couldn't sense him at first. Finally, he sensed Raditz, far below, and very weak. Still alive! 

Goten wriggled. "Hey! Don' like noise. Head hurt!" he whined. 

Gohan sighed with relief. His little brother was okay. "Hold still, silly! I don't want to drop you! I don't like the noise either." 

The smoke cloud finally cleared to reveal a gaping crater where the keep used to be. The pool was gone, too, vaporized by the heat of the blasts. At the very bottom of the crater, Raditz sprawled unmoving. 

* * *

Trunks was standing, fists clenched, over the smoking body of the samurai woman when the Opawang appeared. Bulma sat on the floor, looking dazed and a bit singed around the edges. The Opawang backhanded Trunks with one long-nailed hand, sending him flying across the room. Trunks snapped an arm out, caught the wall, and rebounded, landing lightly on his feet facing the Opawang. Blood ran down his cheek from four parallel cuts. 

"What manner of creature are you, that a mere boy can kill one of my Ochimo?" The Opawang marvelled. 

Bulma glanced at the blue-armored body on the floor. "She was--the Blue Ochimo? The Ochimo of Air? And I actually slapped her?? Oh boy." She turned white, and then red with anger. "That bitch tried to kill me last night!" 

Trunks glared at the Opawang, his face set, an angry light in his eyes. Something about his stance reminded Bulma of his father... and then he spoke. 

"I am Trunks Vegeta Briefs, royal son of Prince Vegeta of Vegetasai, first and only son of King Vegeta of Vegetasai, ruler of the greatest race of warriors the universe has ever known. Who are you, dog?" 

The Opawang regarded him silently for long moments. "Boast not overmuch of your lineage, princeling. Born I was a prince of the royal house of ancient Khem, raised up an Adept of Thoth--but by mine own eye and heart and hand I have surpassed my fathers and their father's fathers. I alone dared read the Three Sacred Books of Thoth, and master the secrets of immortality; I alone delved into secrets of elder Stygia and sought out the Iron-bound Book of Skelos, lost in this distant land, that made me master of demons and spirits; I alone summoned the Child of Chaos from the Time Before Time and pacted with it for the secrets of power without limit. What matters your warrior race? Time will make them dust, whilst I--Ah! I see in your mind--thy noble race is extinct already, destroyed in a world's cataclysm, and your royal father is dead as well. Only the tall one I slew outside, the youth, the babe and another--Kakarott? Goku?--still survive." The Opawang laughed, cruel and mocking. 

"So it goes with all my enemies who have ever been or ever will be--even if I slay them not myself, still Time will bring them to the grave, whilst I remain, immortal and invulnerable." He glanced at Bulma, who was holding Trunks tightly and fearfully. "Do you pretty innocents finally understand? I cannot be harmed, and I will not die, there is no limit to my power, and you cannot escape me even in death. Thy souls are mine for the taking." 

Then the wall shattered. 

* * *

"Nunk Rats? Nunk Rats hurt? NUNK RATS, WAKE UP! PLEASE!" 

Raditz groaned and forced his eyes open. He blinked, trying to focus on whatever was blocking his view of the sky. Everything hurt. He was still alive. 

After a few minutes, Raditz finally managed to bring things into focus. He was lying flat on his back at the bottom of a deep crater, and Goten was leaning over him, looking scared and worried. 

"Nunk Rats?" Goten asked hopefully. His eyes were red and suspiciously wet. 

"Yeah, kid, I'm still here." Remind me not to die in front of the kid. With his ability to see spirits--particularly mine--it would confuse the hell out of him. 

Raditz carefully hauled himself to a sitting position, and spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked himself over. 

No broken bones, lots of minor cuts, major bruises, a bloody nose, and I feel like an ezwal has been using me for a trampoline--and my armor looks like it, too--but other than that, I'm in pretty good shape for someone who should be dead. I must have come back to life a lot stronger than I was before--the Opawang's attack was easily twice as powerful as that blast of Piccolo's that killed me--maybe more. Heh. Maybe eight years in Hell was good for something besides moral re-calibration. 

Now, what's Goten doing here? And where's everyone else? Well, I said I'd try it... 

Raditz pulled Goten onto his lap, and held him while he calmed himself and the child. Clearing his mind, listening but not with his ears, looking but not with his eyes, aware... 

There! Two great powers, one bright, one dark as a demon's heart--this is like sensing spirits, it's the same thing!--one lesser but strong and bright--Trunks?--another lesser, dark, fairly distant, another close by, moving closer--! 

Raditz snapped his head around. The Earth Ochimo was sliding down the crater wall towards them, blade in hand! Raditz swept Goten up to his shoulder and lept to his feet in one motion. "Hang on tight, kid. It's about to get wild!" 

Goten grabbed tight hold of his uncle's hair; Raditz started to power up. The Ochimo of Earth hesitated as the ground began to shake, and dust and small stones rose into the air. Energy crackled around Raditz and Goten; the veins stood out on his forehead. Suddenly the chaos stopped as Raditz pulled in the gathered power. 

The Ochimo mistook the sudden calm for weakness, and attacked with a mighty kiai-shout! The blade hissed through the air, but Raditz was not there. From behind, he cracked his fist into the Ochimo's lower back--a back as hard and strong as stone, but Raditz's blow would have shattered granite. It shattered the Ochimo's spine--and then, as if time had rolled backwards, Raditz felt the Ochimo's back unshatter itself underneath his hand, and then the Ochimo was flung forward by the force of his blow. 

"What the HELL?" Raditz stared at his staggered opponent; the Earth Ochimo had been thrown to his knees and was rising to his feet. "I know I hit you and HURT you, I felt it! But the damage I did undid itself like it never was--how?" 

"Foolish mortal! We are part of our master, he is part of us. To harm us is to harm our master, and he cannot be harmed!" The Earth Ochimo's voice was deep, like ancient rocks groaning. 

"You're not as tough as you'd like me to think," Raditz snarled. "I've already killed one of you." Something clicked in his mind. His first few attacks on the Fire Ochimo had done no damage--and Gohan's attack on the Earth Ochimo hadn't done much more than toss him off the battlefield. Yet, he had killed the Fire Ochimo later.. Raditz smiled evilly. 

* * *

Bulma gasped as Gohan drifted deliberately through the gaping hole in the wall. White-hot energies crackled and seethed around him. He settled to the floor beside Trunks. 

"Trunks, get your mother out of here!" He turned to face the Opawang. "You can leave, now." His voice was deceptively quiet; to Bulma, it seemed like Goku himself stood there. 

"Leave? Bold youth, why should I wish to leave when you have brought such a fine feast to my table? What a pretty innocent you are!" The Opawang smiled--and suddenly shuddered, as if in pain. He snarled. "MIT-ET EM SES HAUT!" he flung out his hand, and a ball of tangled, jagged black, white and red lightnings formed and roiled through the air towards Gohan. 

Trunks tackled his mother and threw her flat as Gohan threw up a hand to deflect it. Almost too late, he realized that the thing was not a ki-construct, and dodged out of its path. It swung wide, and swerved to follow him, gouging a deep grove in the stone wall as it brushed against it. 

Gohan retreated out the hole in the wall, to the open air; the black and red ball of destruction followed. He cupped power in his hand, and flung it at the destroying thing. 

KAK-BLAAM! With an ugly cracking sound, the thing exploded. Gohan threw himself back into the room; the Opawang looked slightly disappointed. Gohan grabbed Trunks and Bulma, and flew back out of the room; where to now? He looked down as light flared below him, and a power died; as the dust cleared, he saw Raditz rising toward him, Goten clinging to his neck. Far below, smoking bits of samurai armor lay scattered about a secondary crater. 

The Opawang stepped through the hole in the wall and hovered. "I do not permit you to leave!" He raised his hand, and pointed at Gohan. "MIT--" 

"Raditz, catch!" Gohan dropped Bulma and Trunks and raised his own hands. "KA-" 

"Eeeeeeee!" Bulma screamed as she fell. 

"-ET--" the sorceror shouted. 

"ME--" The wave began to build... 

"EM--" the horns on the Opawang's head glowed. 

"HA--" The wave was building... 

"BES--" Fire began to glow at the horned sorceror's fingertips. Raditz caught Bulma and Trunks. Bulma looked very surprised. 

"ME-HA!" The universe turned white and black as the actinic white power blazed from Gohan's hands. The blast enveloped the sorceror-- 

something black billowed around him-- 

\--and the universe returned to normal as Gohan's Ka-meha-meha wave vanished, blinking out as if at the flip of a light switch. 

The Opawang laughed, mocking; twin crystal horns glowed bright as stars. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER XI. DESPERATION


	11. Desperation

## XI. DESPERATION

Raditz's eyes went wide with shock. "Oh, crud! He's a damn energy vampire! GOHAN, DUCK!" 

"MIT-TEN EM TEKAU PEST!" Once again, nine spheres of blazing energy hurtled toward Gohan and Raditz. Raditz darted out of the path of destruction, and sped across the valley, looking for a safer place to deposit Bulma, Trunks and Goten. A small mountainside shrine caught his eye. Behind him, Gohan did not duck. 

Raditz glanced back as he hastily dropped Bulma and the kids at the shrine. Gohan blocked AND DEFLECTED the explosive spheres, one after another, almost faster than Raditz could follow. One-two-three, four, five, six-seven-eight-nine, the fiery spheres rebounded and flashed past the Opawang to detonate thunderously against the west rampart of the fortress. 

Gohan hovered in mid-air, unscathed, facing the Opawang. Only the eastern walls of the fortress still stood; the rest was a row of smoking craters. Gohan's hair blazed golden. The Opawang glowed; a fiery nimbus surrounded him. 

I knew the kid was more powerful than I, but this! I never suspected... My god, I'm totally outclassed here! I'm nothing, next to this. I'm a first-class Saiyan warrior, but I might as well be one of those villagers, for all that my power matters next to these two! Wait a second, that flame nimbus looks familiar... 

Gohan struck. Faster than even Raditz's eye could follow, he closed with the Opawang, hammering him with mountain-shattering blows--only to fall away, screaming in pain, burnt and bleeding. The Opawang hurtled back, slammed into the mountainside by the force of Gohan's blows. 

"GOHAN! NO!" Raditz screamed. He hurtled down and caught Gohan's falling body with one arm; with the other, he threw a blast of ki--not at the Opawang, but at the mountainside above the Opawang. The Opawang picked himself up just in time for several hundred tons of rock to fall on his head. 

"That'll slow him down for a few." Raditz carried Gohan to the small shrine where the others waited. "You with us, kid?" 

"Yep, just.. hurting," Gohan gasped. His hair faded back to black. "What happened?" 

"Same thing that happened when I hit the Fire Ochimo--that flame aura somehow turns your own attack against you." Raditz shook his head. "You attacked before I could warn you. Looked like you hit yourself hard." 

"Oh, man, did I!" Gohan groaned. "What is that guy, anyway?" 

"An immortal sorceror of ancient..." Bulma played with her pocket comp, muttering under her breath, "Egypt? Khem is Egypt? What on earth is an ancient Egyptian sorceror doing HERE?" She looked everyone over. 

Goten and Trunks looked fine, except for a little dust in their hair. Gohan grimaced in pain, and his gi was torn and burnt; his arms looked blistered and sore. Raditz looked like an elephant herd had trampled him a few times--his armor was crazed and cracked, the one remaining shoulder piece had been blown off entirely, and the leg guards broken off short. Dried blood streaked his face and limbs, and his right arm was blistered like Gohan's. 

"He likes the climate?" Raditz offered. "All I know is what I've seen--the sonuvabitch is an energy vampire--he eats ki attacks and absorbs their power for himself--and he has some weird defenses and some dangerous attacks. Gohan, forget what I said about their attacks being pathetic--he damn near killed me with that Nine Sphere blast of his!" 

"I know--I saw. For a while, I thought he did. Kill you, I mean." Gohan looked thoughtful. 

Raditz blinked. I must be imagining things--it sounds like the idea bothered him. Could it have? 

"What the Opawang said," Bulma interjected, "was that he was immortal, couldn't be harmed, had unlimited power, and could control spirits and demons--even the dead. A very arrogant and nasty person to be stuck in the same room with." She looked wonderingly at her son. "Trunks, that challenge you made to the Opawang--where did that come from?" 

Trunks blushed and ducked his head. "Mom, I was really, really scared when the Opawang appeared like that..." Trunks stared at his feet for a moment, "..and I wondered, 'What would Father do? _He_ wouldn't be scared!'" A fierce expression flashed across his face as Trunks clenched his small fists. "I pretended I was Father, and I wasn't scared anymore." 

Bulma laughed nervously. "You sounded so much like your father it scared _me_." 

Raditz rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, while we're thinking like Vegeta, let's answer this question: how do we kill the bastard?" 

Bulma bit her lip. "He's immortal and invulnerable--" 

"You are as bad as my brother. Do you really believe everything your ENEMY tells you?" Raditz looked disgusted. "Come on, woman, pull it together and use your head." 

Bulma glared at him. "You can be really annoying, you know?" 

"It's a natural talent of mine. In less than ten minutes I can talk people into killing me without even trying to. Just ask Kakarott." 

She snarled through clenched teeth. "I'm about ready to kill you myself! CAN WE GET BACK TO THE POINT??" 

"The point is, Opie there said a lot of crap about himself, but we don't know how much of that is true, and how much is pure bullshit intended to spook us. I shouldn't have to tell you this, you're not stupid." Raditz looked mildly contemptuous. 

Bulma looked very annoyed. "Oh yeah? Gohan," she turned to him, "you tell me--what's he got?" 

Gohan looked thoughtful. "He has some nasty defenses, some moderately dangerous attacks--nothing I shouldn't be able to handle with the proper precautions--but I couldn't hurt him. I hit him, Bulma, I smashed him into the mountain with super-saiyan strength--and his power didn't weaken in the least. Raditz dropped a chunk of mountain on his head, and he's still there, just as tough. No change in his strength--except one: it went UP when I blasted him with a Kamehameha. Raditz is right about that--he consumes energy thrown at him." He shook his head. "I don't know how to explain it, unless part of what he says is true--if he is immortal." 

Bulma looked at Raditz. "Got a theory, Raditz?" 

"Nope, just a few points. One bad, one maybe useful. Don't get in a panic, but some of the crap Opie was spewing was true. He does have power over ghosts and spirits--remember I told you I nearly didn't get away from him when I was a ghost? He can trap souls and drain their energy--and he's somehow keeping spirits from leaving this valley. Dying here and now would be bad--above and beyond the usual unpleasantness." He shifted his position. 

"Bet that the Ochimo we killed will be back by nightfall, at least as the demon spirits they were before you wished them all back. Not good; anyone here know how fight a soul-stealing wraith that you can't even touch? Didn't think so. I'll get back to that--I have some ideas." 

Bulma and Gohan both glanced at the lowering western sun, and looked at each other. Bulma swallowed nervously. "Let's get back to that real soon," she muttered. 

Raditz stood up and paced. "The one maybe useful point is a question: if there is something to what he was saying, exactly what makes this guy immortal and what makes him invulnerable?" 

Bulma pondered, brow furrowed. "Okay, tell me if we're on the same page: something gives this guy unlimited ability to absorb abuse, what is it? You're right, he didn't just wake up one morning and decide to be immortal--he did something, and something in him is changed from a normal person. But what?" 

Gohan thought a bit. "His ability to absorb ki and throw it back as more attacks, or bolster his own defenses could be enough to make him practically invulnerable.." 

Raditz frowned. "He sucks up physical damage, too. I hit him, physically, and nearly broke bones--mine. I saw you hit him, and that nasty fire shield of his may turn your attack against you, but it doesn't stop the physical impact from getting through. He slammed into that mountain HARD. Of course, if he can channel stolen ki into some kind of healing ability..." Raditz stopped short. 

"Of course." He turned to Gohan. "When you were up there in the room with him and Bulma and Trunks, did you see any sign that he was losing energy, or in pain, or even distracted?" 

Gohan looked startled. "Yes. Yes, I did. When I faced the Opawang, he was boasting one moment, then a spasm hit him, and he started trying to kill me." 

Raditz grinned. "THAT was when I broke the Earth Ochimo's back--and it healed immediately. I FELT it heal under my hand. The Ochimo said something about it and its master being part of each other--to harm it was to harm Opie, and Opie couldn't be harmed, or some such crap. The Ochimo are tied to him; he can lend some limited part of his ability to take abuse to them, and they feed him energy--or they did as ghosts, anyway." 

Trunks spoke up. "When I attacked the Air Ochimo, I couldn't hurt her at first--but when I powered up and started really pouring energy into my attacks, she went down fast--almost as if she had no defenses at all." 

Raditz nodded. "It went the same way with the Fire and Earth Ochimo. Their invulnerablity is a lot more limited than Opie's, but it may be the same kind--some rapid self-healing sort of thing--but they had to draw the power from Opie, and he doesn't strike me as the generous type." 

Bulma pursed her lips. "Hmmmm... So he can absorb ki and take no damage from it, he can heal himself from physical damage, and he can use ki to make additional defenses and attacks. He can control ghosts, or at least drain ki from them. So how do we kill this bastard?" 

"The safe way of dealing with an energy vampire," Raditz commented, "is to starve it--don't feed it energy yourself, cut it off from its usual methods of feeding, force it to expend energy, and then, when it is weaker, finish it with purely physical attacks or the next best thing. The unsafe, quick and dirty way of dealing with an energy vampire is to overload it, dump so much energy into it so fast that it can't keep up with the energy, and so dies. It can be embarrassing if the vamp doesn't overload. Heh." 

Raditz looked back up at the ruined fortress. "Too bad Gohan fed the bastard more energy than he could dream of stealing from a whole planetful of weak humans. We can't starve him, I doubt he overloads--he didn't seem bothered by Gohan's big blast--and it's going to tricky to make him use up energy without accidently feeding him some more. It's the only thing I can think of right now--push him hard, make him burn energy, and hope we can find some weakness." He shook his head. "It's not much of a plan." 

Bulma looked for some hope. "What about our original plan, to free the kami of the spring? We could at least get away, then." 

Gohan looked up. "No. He won't let us go that easily; we're too valuable a prize for him, and too dangerous as enemies. That would have worked while he was still imprisoned, but now.." Goku's son shook his head. "Besides, I won't leave a monster like that running loose to do who knows what to however many innocent people." 

Bulma's shoulders drooped. "You're not inspiring a lot of confidence, guys. This isn't looking good, is it?" 

Raditz regarded her impassively; he glanced at Gohan. "Sorry, I don't believe in comforting lies." He stood up. "Listen! If we don't beat this bastard, and any of you survive, and the kami is freed or Hornhead brings down the barriers for his own reasons, WARN KAKAROTT! Don't let him walk unaware into that bastard's traps--letting Hornhead feed on Kakarott's power would be.. bad." 

Gohan looked at the setting sun. "*Ahem* About fighting with soul-stealing wraiths..." 

"Yeah, I guess that's our next worry--at least as long as Opie is digging himself out from under all that rock. I need to work something out--an idea I had--give me a while..." Raditz sat down and closed his eyes, as if in meditation. 

Bulma frowned, and shrugged. "Well, Gohan, while he's doing that, let's see if I can dig up any food for the kids." She looked through her capsule case and started opening things up and digging out packages. "Goten's already sacked out, and Trunks looks tired. Ah, here's some sleeping bags, and here's the camp food!" 

* * *

I fought them easily enough as a spirit among spirits. And what am I now? Spirit clothed in flesh, but the spirit is still there. I should still be able to fight them, but how do I see them, and what weapon do I use? 

Seeing is easy--they manifest visibly to attack the living, and unmanifested they are nothing, a nuisance in dreams, no more. But where is the weapon I used? 

There is no steel nor armor plate in the spirit realm--all things are spirit, even what seem to be tangible objects. My blade was not a thing, but an idea, a concept of an attack that gives the opponent no hold on one's spirit, no passion to inflame, no weakness to tear at. It is the passionless strike, the blow without hate, destruction without anger, the act without doubt, the purpose that is true. It is the void, and the flame within. Set aside the Saiyan battle rage; it gives no strength here. Remember the purpose -- protect them! 

It is manifest. 

* * *

Raditz opened his eyes. Across his lap lay a spectral, translucent white katana. It had no weight; he grasped the hilt with his right hand, seemingly, but it had no substance. Only in spirit could he feel it; it was a thing of pure spirit. Invisible, save for the ki-glow he had given it to guide his stroke. He raised the spirit blade in salute. "To you, Bardock my father, for what you have taught me. May it be enough." 

It was full dark; someone had kindled a campfire, and Trunks watched him from across that fire, thoughtful. Bulma and Goten slept; Gohan also watched, open-mouthed with astonishment. "What is that?" 

"A weapon--the same weapon I used last night on those same wraiths. I just had to figure out how to recall it." Raditz sighed, and the blade vanished like morning mist in the sun. "Don't worry, it'll be there when I need it." He smiled, and the blade reappeared in his left hand, flickered, and vanished. "If I keep my soul in the right place." 

Trunks regarded him intently. "'Remember the purpose'" he quoted, "I understand that, but what is the 'flame in the void'? Can you teach me to create such a weapon?" 

"Was I speaking aloud?" Raditz looked at Trunks thoughtfully. 

Gohan looked bewildered. "I heard nothing." 

"I'm not sure you were. I may have heard your mind." Trunks said. 

Something is happening here.. He should not have heard me. Perhaps he was.. meant to? The blade reappeared in Raditz's hand. He presented it, hilt first, to Trunks. 

Trunks took it. He held the spirit blade, scarely daring to breathe. Wonder and awe shown on his face. "How did--?" The blade flickered and vanished. 

"Careful. You let yourself get too excited. It's still there, just take hold of it.. with your spirit. Remember what you heard in my mind..." 

Trunks centered himself, and found the void, emptied of all passion and concern. Within, the flame, and he seized hold of it--lightly, for a flame is not held with force. The blade re-appeared in Trunks' hand, shaped like a straight sword, not a katana this time. 

He looked at Raditz, wonder and a profound respect in his eyes. "But you.. have no weapon now." 

Raditz smirked. "Not so." The ghost katana reappeared in his right hand; Trunks still held his spirit sword. "That's the funny thing about spirit; it increases when you give it away." 

Gohan looked on in amazement. He really is Dad's brother, like him, and not like him in the oddest ways. He's the dark to Dad's light--like Vegeta! That strangeness I see in his eyes--when I catch an unguarded look at Goten, Trunks, Bulma, even myself-- I remember catching a glimpse of it in Vegeta's eyes, way back on Namek, when he thought I didn't see him watching me. It was so out of place in the person I believed Vegeta to be, that I didn't believe what I saw then--not until so much later, when I came to know Vegeta as he truly is. Is it really so hard for a Saiyan to admit he has a heart? 

* * *

The ghost Ochimo attacked at midnight. As if in some ghastly reprise of their deaths, the Fire and Earth Ochimo attacked Raditz, while the Air Ochimo slipped past him to pursue Trunks. Perhaps they thought to take vengeance; they did not say, and Raditz did not ask. 

Spectral weapons clashed without sound; Earth hesitated as Fire pressed the attack. Beyond them, Air circled Trunks warily, more cautious now that her opponent was armed, not the defenseless victim she had expected. Gohan tested his powers, only to find to his dismay that ki blasts merely passed through the intangible spirits without touching them. 

Earth broke away from the contest between Fire and Raditz to pursue the defenseless Gohan. Raditz grinned evilly; how convenient of Earth to expose himself! He feinted at Fire, and before Fire could do more than parry, in a blur of speed Raditz was on the Earth Ochimo. The spirit blade sliced him across and through; the maimed ghost fled with a dismal wail. Raditz spun and beheaded Fire, who'd leaped to attack his apparently unguarded back. 

A third wail marked the passing of Air; Trunks flourished his blade and saluted Raditz. "You're right--we have speed and they have skill." 

"Which is why we wrapped this fight up as fast as possible." Raditz dispelled his spirit blade. "I'd feel better if I knew what Water was up to. He's the one we never accounted for." 

Gohan looked up the mountain, into the darkness. "I'd feel better knowing what the Opawang is up to." 

"Sending those creeps after us, for one thing. They came down on us about five minutes after he got loose from all that rock." 

Gohan glanced sharply at Raditz. "You sensed it, too? Why didn't you say anything?" 

"I don't believe in comforting lies, but I do know when to keep my mouth shut. As long as Hornhead's staying up there, and not doing anything to us, we might as well get some rest. We'll need it later." 

* * *

Dawn came red and gloomy; black clouds still hovered over the valley. Bulma was the first to wake (save Raditz, who hadn't slept); she stretched, got up, looked around--and screamed. 

Bulma's scream woke everyone up. "What? What's wrong?" Gohan looked around, and finally saw what Bulma was pointing at with one trembling hand. His eyes went wide with shock. 

The Opawang's fortress stood, frowning upon the mountainside. It reared proud and undamaged, as if yesterday's battle had never been. 

"Now we know what Hornhead was doing last night," Raditz said dryly. "He likes having a clean house more than he likes chasing us in the dark." 

"What kind of power does he have, that he can just rebuild a castle in one night?" Gohan sounded almost scared. 

"Hopefully, less than he had yesterday," Raditz responded. "If he doesn't..." 

"Oh, no!" Bulma was looking downhill now, at the village. "Where are all the people? Nothing is moving--even the pigs and chickens are quiet." 

Raditz scowled. "Maybe it's just my nasty, suspicious mind--but I think I know what the Water Ochimo was up to. Time to find that bastard. Gohan, protect Bulma." Power flared around Raditz, and he took to the air. 

Behind him, Bulma packed up the camp gear and popped the scooter capsule. "Gohan, you carry Goten. I'm riding the scooter, Trunks you hang on behind me." 

"What? Where are we going?" 

"Back to the spring. I have some important questions to ask of Black Earth River Daughter, questions whose answers just might save our bacon." Bulma had that "I will not even listen to any arguments, so don't bother" look on her face; Gohan wisely quelled his protests. 

* * *

Raditz found the Ochimo of Water at the spring, claiming his last victim. The farm girl who had been resurrected with him there sprawled face down, unmoving. The Water Ochimo snarled at him, and pointed a gauntleted hand; water surged out of the spring to envelop Raditz, forcing itself into his nose and mouth, choking him. 

He refused to panic, and summoned power, forcing the animated water away and off of him. Raditz coughed out stray drops of water. "Nice try, but not good enough. Fool." 

A familiar nimbus of cold blue flame surrounded the Water Ochimo. Raditz grinned evilly. "You guys like that trick, don't you? Too bad I'm on to it." He rose back into the air, gathered power in each hand, and slammed two ki-blasts into the Ochimo. 

The Ochimo was tossed backwards by the blasts, and his nimbus of fire fluttered and went out. The green samurai rose to his feet, apparently undamaged. 

"I know that trick, too," said Raditz. He rocketed down and into the Ochimo, brutally plunging his hand through armor, skin and bone. With his hand deep in the Ochimo's chest, Raditz cut loose with another powerful blast. An instant later, he flung the mangled, charred corpse down the mountainside. 

"Thank you, Zarbon, for telling me how Vegeta took you out. It came in handy." Raditz spoke quietly, only for the wind to hear. He turned to look at the fortress. "Old Hornhead didn't like that, did he?" 

Raditz saw Gohan approaching. "GOHAN! Give the kid to Bulma and intercept the Opawang! I killed his last Ochimo, and he's really pissed off!" 

* * *

The Opawang stood on air, his face dark with wrath. A nimbus of purple flame crackled around him; his crystal horns glowed bright as stars. "Enough of this! This day, you die. MIT-ET EM TEHEN!" 

Lightning cracked from the Opawang's fingers to Gohan's golden-haired, glowing form. He didn't even bother to raise a warding hand, but took the lightning bolt square in the chest. He didn't even blink. 

A great boulder rose from the ground, circled Gohan's head, and flung itself at the Opawang faster than even Raditz's eye could follow. The Opawang never had a chance to move. The boulder smashed into him, flinging him back and into the mountainside, and shattered into a cloud of dust. 

"Yep, he felt that. Feel his power bobble a bit when you hit him?" Raditz gestured with one hand; several smaller boulders rose and circled him. The dust cleared to reveal the Opawang, even angrier if that were possible, his flame nimbus still intact. Raditz flicked his hand; half a dozen small boulders slammed into the Opawang, one after another. 

The nimbus went out; Gohan charged. With his full Super-Saiyan strength, he hit the Opawang, smashing his jaw, breaking his back, slamming an elbow into his gut, and flinging him to the ground with enough force to embed him in the rock ten feet deep. "That's got him!" 

"No!" Raditz turned his head. The Opawang appeared in mid-air, several hundred feet away. He appeared unhurt; a shimmering, translucent sphere surrounded him. The flame nimbus re-appeared. 

"His power is down--a tiny bit. At this rate, it'll take forever, and he's not going to fall for the same trick twice." Raditz frowned. 

Gohan summoned another huge boulder and flung it at the Opawang, only to watch it swerve around the sphere and crash harmlessly into the mountain. "Not good. Next trick?" 

"Try it, kid. Just don't touch that damn flame shield!" 

Gohan dove into the fortress and tore loose a huge roof beam, and then smashed it down on the Opawang (who still couldn't dodge the Saiyans). Once again, after two or three blows, the flame nimbus went out, and Gohan rained mountain-shattering blows down on the Opawang. Once again, it seemed the Opawang was near death--and he vanished only to re-appear elsewhere. 

"Raditz, I swear his power was nearly gone, but now it's back almost full again!" 

"I know, he's got a reserve he's pulling in from somewhere--but where? LOOK OUT!" Raditz dodged back, almost to the village, as the Opawang flung fire in their direction. Gohan contemptuously deflected it straight back to its origin. The fire bolt swerved around the shimmering sphere and splashed against the mountainside. 

"I tire of this game! Your heart's hearts are mine!" snarled the Opawang, and vanished again. 

"I hate that teleport trick of his. Where'd he get to--NOOOO!" Raditz screamed. The Opawang was below him, at the spring--with Bulma and Trunks and Goten. Raditz dove. 

Gohan cried out in horror, and moved with all his Super-Saiyan speed, but he knew he would be too late. He could already hear the spell. 

"TAA-T AB-KEH!" Bulma stood, frozen with terror, knowing that the Opawang spoke her death. He stood on air above her, one long-nailed hand extended, evil triumph on his face. 

Then Raditz flung her aside and leaped toward the Opawang, between her and that outstretched, taloned hand. She hit the boulder wall, and lay stunned from the impact. Blood splashed over her, and she dimly heard a cry of agony--and then something glowing golden flashed across her sight and the Opawang was gone far away. 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER XII. BATTLE'S END


	12. Battle's End

##  XII. BATTLE'S END 

Time seemed to stand still as Raditz flung himself at the Opawang. I can't see the spell, he thought. Then something insubstantial slipped through his defenses, past his armor and skin and bone to grip his heart. The insubstantial became adamantine knives, and Raditz screamed as he felt his heart rip out of his chest, tearing bone and skin and armor apart. 

His vision shifted as his power faded and he fell. Raditz saw the Opawang as he appeared in both this world and the next, all at once--and he understood. Gohan, flashing with golden power, smashed into the Opawang and flung him far, far away as Raditz's dying body crashed to earth. 

Trunks was the first one to reach Raditz. His face was white with horror. "MOM! Help me, Raditz is hurt bad!" Bulma groaned, still stunned from her rough rescue. 

Blood flooded the pavement; Raditz reached up and grabbed Trunks' vest. "No time.. I'm dying. Listen!.. I've seen.. his weakness.. Tell Gohan.. to push.. him.. harder.." Raditz spat blood. "Weakness.. is in the spirit.. realm. Opie can't.. defend.. himself.. both realms.. same.. time." Raditz's grip relaxed, and his arm fell. "I will.. take him out.. on.. the.. other side. Don't.. let.. him.. stop.. fighting.. in this.. world.." He shuddered, gasping for breath that wouldn't come. "Take.. leopard head... soul cage.." 

Bulma crawled over to Raditz. "Raditz? Oh, no! Please, save your strength!" 

"Silly.. woman." He managed half a smile. "Tell Kakarott.. I understand.. him.. now." One last shudder, and then stillness. 

"NOOOOO!" Bulma screamed. She felt for a pulse, but already knew the answer. "Oh, Raditz!" She gently closed his eyes. 

"Nunk Rats?" Goten's lip trembled, tears began to fill his eyes. Bulma hugged him, and turned him away from the carnage beside the spring. 

"He's gone, baby, he's gone." Bulma began to weep. "Damn it, what is it with you stubborn, arrogant Saiyan bastards? As soon as I start caring about you, you go and die! And you had to die saving my life, didn't you?" 

Golden light washed over them; Trunks looked up. "Gohan! Raditz said--" 

"I know, I heard it all. My senses are enhanced, like my strength, and power." He looked off in the distance, and nodded grimly. "I'll push him all right; the bastard won't have time to breathe!" Gohan vanished, a golden streak across the sky. 

Trunks hugged his mother tightly; his tears mingled with hers. "Mom, I know we can't use the dragonballs to get Father back, but can we use them for.." he nodded at Raditz's still form. 

Bulma wiped the tears from her face. "Yes! Yes, we can, and we will! I swear if we survive this mess, we will get Raditz back!" She looked around for Goten, who had wandered off. He stood near the pool of blood, looking puzzled. He looked at Raditz's body, and then up at the sky, and back again. 

"Nan Bulma, how come two Nunk Rats?" 

* * *

Awareness returned, or rather, awareness of being aware. Raditz looked down on his own corpse, and knew himself again. 

What a mess! If I ever go back, I'll need to get new armor. That set isn't good for much anymore. Heh. Body inside it doesn't look too good, either. Damn. I liked life. At least I died for something a lot better than my own stupidity, this time. 

Ah, Bulma, I've hurt you where you've already been terribly hurt--I never meant to do that. You weren't supposed to like me, damn it! And don't you dare feel guilty for living, woman! Trunks needs you on your feet and fighting--yeah, that's it. So you'd use the dragonballs for me? Damn. Didn't know I'd made THAT good an impression. 

Aw, Goten! Bulma's going to hate this--especially if she ever figures out I dumped it on her, but-- "Hey, Goten! Get Bulma to explain it to you--I'm going to be real busy helping Gohan beat up the bad guy, but don't worry. Uncle Raditz will be around. Maybe not fun for a while, but I'll be there for you. And maybe after the fight's over, I can explain things a bit more." 

Now how's Boy Wonder doing with Hornhead? Oh, yeah! Opie isn't too happy right now, is he? Keep him busy, Gohan. I see the skeins and weave of his power... 

The ghost katana returned to Raditz's right hand, as he stalked the Opawang across the spirit plane. Silver threads of stolen power spun an umbilical from the spirit fortress to the Opawang's manifested presence. Raditz followed that silver cord into the heart of the fortress, the Opawang's throne room. Each silver thread led to one of the statues, statues glowing with the light of trapped souls. Waiting for him was the ghost of the Water Ochimo, sword poised. 

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Raditz smiled evilly. 

* * *

Gohan continued with the routine he'd worked out--grab the Opawang by a leg or arm--a gentle grip did no damage, and gave the fire shield nothing to turn back against him--and then slam the Opawang as hard as he could against the nearest chunk of landscape. The Opawang usually broke when he did that, only to reshape himself and jaunt away. Then Gohan would chase him down. 

This time the Opawang appeared behind him, apparently thinking Gohan would not notice, and started to incant a spell. Gohan seized him by the jaw--again gently, to avoid setting off the fire shield--and crushed his face. That stopped the spell. This time, Gohan remembered to rip the gold leopard's head clasp off before he threw the Opawang deep into the mountain. 

"Oops, don't want to let him get too deep, he might have time to pay attention to things elsewhere. Better pull him out again." Gohan gleefully plunged after the sorceror. 

* * *

The broken spirit of the Water Ochimo fled, wailing and gnashing its teeth. Two swipes of Raditz's ghost blade cut all the silver cords; two more sweeping blows destroyed the statues, freeing the trapped souls, who milled about, looking for their bodies. 

"Village, out through the roof, thataway." Raditz pointed, and launched himself through the new hole in the roof, looking for the Opawang. 

Opie's probably noticed that--I've got to move fast, and pray Gohan keeps him extra busy. 

* * *

This time the Opawang tried hiding behind illusion, but his evil ki was a beacon of blazing darkness to Gohan. Gohan grabbed him and impaled him on the roof spire of his own keep, then blew the roof away, dropping him to the floor below. He flew down and picked up the stunned Opawang, and started the routine all over again. 

* * *

My, the Boy Wonder has been keeping Hornhead busy! He's still got his power reserves, though--that's what goes first. 

Raditz studied the wonderfully complex cloak of energies and forms that made up the Opawang's spirit realm presence. His soul, his spirit form, his life force, that odd energy-draining shadow cloak, and his vast reserve of magical power were all bound by an unnaturally tight and unbreakable bond to his physical body. Raditz sensed that the bond itself was tied to a Name, and if he'd known that Name, Raditz could have untied the bond as easily as pulling on a shoelace. 

But, he didn't. Fortunately, unbreakable didn't mean uncuttable. Two-handed grip for precision and power, destruction without anger, act without doubt, purpose true and remembered-- the ghost katana struck! The bond between that nimbus of power and the other six forms parted and snapped; Raditz ripped away that cloud of power. The flood of released power overwhelmed him before he could reject it, deflect most of it away; he reeled, stunned in the tidal bore of power. 

* * *

The Opawang screamed in mortal agony, the first cry of pain Gohan had ever heard from him. He wrenched his broken form from the rocks, and teleported again. Gohan panicked; he was at the spring again! Who would die this time? He sped toward them at incomprehensible speeds, and was there in a heartbeat. 

The Opawang grabbed for Goten; Gohan grabbed the sorceror by his long hair and threw him across the valley. He hit the valley wall hard, and did not get up. 

"What? His power isn't coming back the way it did every time before!" Gohan glanced at Raditz's gory corpse. "You did something to him, didn't you? I wish you could talk to me the way you do to Goten." 

Gohan flew towards his enemy. "He's not dead! He's way down in power, and all messed up, but he's not dying. Great, maybe he really is immortal." 

The Opawang rose, his flame nimbus still surrounding him. A black aura flickered and shimmered around his broken body. Blood covered him; broken ends of bone cut through his skin. His horns were dull and lightless; he looked like a corpse walking. He lived. 

"You still cannot win, for I cannot die! Your friend will pay an eternity of agony for that foul blow--his soul cannot escape this valley while I will it. Yours will join him in torment, and I will devour the children while you watch, helpless and damned." 

"Shut your foul mouth!" Gohan grabbed the Opawang again, and cried out as the sorceror seized him with two icy cold hands, cold with a black cold that seared and drained the very life from him. Where his own hand touched the Opawang, there too his life and power poured out. 

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Gohan tore himself away from the Opawang's grasp, and the sorceror vanished again, but not before Gohan sensed that his power had returned--or rather, been replenished from Gohan's stolen power. "Owww! Watch out for the black aura, that's another nasty trick of his." 

He sensed the sorceror--back in the fortress again. "Here we go again." 

* * *

Raditz finally pulled himself free of the explosion of power, and found the Opawang again. Oh-ho, he's using that shadow-cloak thingy on Gohan? That means he's not using it on me. Let's give the bastard something to worry about. Raditz struck again, freeing the unnaturally tight bond between life force and body. He retreated, fast, as shadowy tendrils returned to the spirit realm and reached for him. "Gohan, get back in there!" 

* * *

Gohan plunged into the castle, wary of traps. Then he heard Raditz's voice--"Gohan, get back in there!" His eyes went wide, and he blasted through the wall into the Opawang's private chamber. The Opawang whirled, angry, but completely healed. Flame nimbus surrouned him, but the black aura did not--yes it did, it just returned. The sorceror sneered, knowing Gohan dared not touch him, and raised a hand, started to incant a spell-- 

Gohan brought the roof down. For good measure, he blew the floor out, too, and let the Opawang be caught between two layers of broken stone. Oops, can't leave him to his own devices down there--but what's this? "His power is down again--and weakening! He's hurt; he's really hurt!" 

* * *

Raditz struck again, at the deadliest remaining power. The shadow cloak was ripped, but didn't want to come away; Raditz struck again, and loosened the bond between soul and body. 

Good, now he can't come back as an undead, life-sucking animated corpse. Once this job is finished, he can go to Hell like the rest of us evil bastards. Oh, wait a minute--I didn't loosen the bond between his spirit form and his physical body. I guess that means his spirit form will always be that of his rotting corpse. Tough break that. 

Oh, crud. I might have to deal with this bastard in Hell some day. Don't need to make it more unpleasant than necessary. 

Raditz sighed, and struck the final blow. 

* * *

Gohan was telekinetically lifting the stone off the Opawang when he heard Raditz again. "Kid, kill the bastard. Just blast him with everything you've got, his special powers are GONE." Gohan thought he heard a wicked laugh, a laugh that gave him chills to remember. Then he uncovered the Opawang. 

The broken sorceror looked up at him. "Damn you, brat! I curse you from Hell's heart, I call upon mine ancient pact, O Child of Chaos damn them to--" 

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!" SWHOOMMM! The bright blast of energy disintegrated the Opawang, and turned the universe to a brilliant white and black negative of itself. Gohan rose through the broken roof, still pouring down destruction. Several minutes later, he finally stopped. Dust and ash billowed up in a tremendous cloud, towering high above the valley. 

"Gohan! Listen--one last thing. Take the leopard's head to the spring, and break it. Hurry, Mountain Sister's getting angry at all the abuse she's been taking." 

"Raditz? Oh, yeah." Gohan looked around at the destruction, noting all the holes and craters and chunks gouged out of the mountainside. "I guess she's got good reason." He flew down to the spring, leaving a sonic boom in his wake. 

He landed beside the grotto, and crushed the gold leopard's head on the rocks of the spring. The earth began shake, and the waters to foam and rush. A wind howled outside. 

"Gohan, what are you doing?" Bulma screamed from outside. "And how did you bring all the villagers back to life?" 

"What?" He stepped out of the grotto. Bulma was holding the farm girl, who looked confused and terrified, but very much alive. He glanced at Raditz's body, but it was still very much dead. He shook his head. "I don't know, unless killing the Opawang did it." Gohan had to shout over the rising fury of water and wind. 

Water rose from the spring, and solidified into the form of an inhumanly beautiful woman--moss green hair adorned with water lotus, translucent body of blue-green water-glass, carnelian eyes. Bulma's jaw dropped; it was the kami of the spring, the image in the pool brought to life. 

"Mother!" she cried out. "Stop! Harm them not--they have set me free! The Opawang is no more, they have slain him--immortal no more, he is destroyed! WE ARE FREE!" 

The mountain answered; Bulma and Gohan watched in awe as Black Earth Mountain shrugged, and the great crater where the Opawang's fortress once stood was buried beneath a million tons of rock and dirt--a mighty landslide that thundered down the mountain, and parted to pass the spring and village by on either side. 

* * *

"Piccolo!" Goku called, "the barrier is gone. I can see a valley there now." 

"Something's happening," the Namek pointed out, as dust rose high into air. 

"I can sense them! They're all alive, and there's some other powers, too. Let's get down there!" 

* * *

Black Earth River Daughter glided across the blood-stained pavement and knelt beside dead Raditz. She caressed him gently, washing away the blood with her spring waters. "Thou and thine hast destroyed mine oppressor and freed me, brave warrior, and released my mother from slavery. Shall I be less generous than thee, who gave everything? Alas! I am niggardly besides thee--but what I can give, I give thee." 

She kissed him, long and deep; Raditz's body shuddered, and his eyes opened. She gave him one last caress, and vanished back into the spring. 

Raditz sat up slowly, feeling his chest with one hand. The cruel wound was gone, healed as if it had never been. He looked at Bulma and Gohan, Trunks and Goten with wonder and awe. "That.. was one sweet kiss! I'm.. alive!" 

"Nunk Rats?" Goten looked hopeful. "Nunk Rats fun?" 

Raditz smiled. "Yeah kid, it's fun--" Goten jumped into his arms and hugged him before he could finish. 

Trunks sidled over and regarded Raditz silently. Finally, he spoke. "Thank you. I didn't get to say that before, and--" 

Gohan's head whipped up. "DAD! PICCOLO!" His joyous shout echoed off the mountains. 

Goku dropped out of the sky onto the edge of the pavement; Piccolo hovered above, looking boggled. 

Goku glanced quickly around, and stopped to stare half-horrified at his formerly dead older brother, who was holding his youngest son Goten. He couldn't help remembering another time, when Raditz had taken his screaming, terrified son--but this time, his youngest son was unafraid and--laughing? 

"Raditz?? How?" Without waiting for explanation, he glanced at Bulma, Gohan, and Trunks. "Glad to see everyone is okay.. I think." He looked hard at Gohan's burnt gi and blistered arms, Bulma's bruised arms and legs, Raditz's shattered armor, and the copious bloodstains on the pavement. 

"Kakarott, you missed all the fun!" Raditz smirked. "Demon warriors, ghouls, an immortal evil sorceror, a beautiful nature kami freed from slavery, the young prince come into his heritage, raising the dead--including my own charming self--and one hell of a good fight. You would have loved it!" 

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Well, some of us have a different word than 'fun' for screaming in terror and trying to find a safe place to hide with the kids, but--" She looked at her old friend Goku. 

"Goku, he saved our lives. If it weren't for Raditz, we'd all be dead--or worse. ALL of us." Bulma glanced significantly at Gohan. He nodded in confirmation. 

Raditz got to his feet and handed the delighted Goten to his father, much to Goku's surprise and relief. Goten started telling his daddy everything that had happened, in his usual fashion. After about the fifth "Nunk Rats", Goku looked quizzically at Raditz. 

"Raditz?" Raditz smiled slyly. Goku looked at Goten, who was pouting because Daddy wasn't listening. "Goten, who's that?" 

Goten looked exasperated, and yelled "Nunk Rats!" 

Goku looked at Raditz again, and then something clicked. "Goten, who's your grandpa?" 

"Nox King!" 

"So that's Uncle Raditz?" 

"Yep, Nunk Rats!" 

Goku looked suspiciously at Raditz. "He's been saying that for weeks. How did he know?" 

"You didn't know, Kakarott? The kid can see ghosts--just like his grandfather the Ox King." 

"You've been here, as a ghost??" Goku's jaw dropped. 

"It's a long story, Kakarott--it started in Hell between me and Vegeta, and it winds up.. here, with me alive." 

"You just can't rid of some people," Piccolo commented sarcastically. 

Raditz glanced at his one-time killer. "No, but you can ignore them like you wish they weren't there." 

Goku looked around again. "It looks like you've all been through some kind of terrible ordeal, but everyone's alive, at least. Chi-chi will be so happy to know that everyone's okay. She was worried sick about Goten and Gohan." 

Bulma smacked herself. "In all this happy excitement, I forgot to see if the phone worked." She pulled out her satellite phone and started punching in ident codes. She tapped her foot in impatience; finally a connection was made. "Chi-chi, this is Bulma.." She frowned, and waited a moment. "Dad? What are you doing there? Chi-chi fainted? She does that. Listen, tell Chi-chi and whoever else is there that we're all fine, and Goku and Piccolo caught up with us, and we'll all be heading home as soon as we can get the cars loaded up. Tell Chi-chi someone needs to pick up extra groceries--if it's the usual bunch of useless layabouts, I suppose Chi-chi will be stuck with that job, because we've got," she looked the group over, "one, two, three, four, five hungry Saiyans coming home for dinner. No, we didn't get Vegeta back this time, but I've got some news of him, at least. Bye!" 

Bulma looked at Goku. "Yes, it's been a terrible ordeal, and, like Raditz said, it's a looong story--one that will be worth telling AFTER a bath, clean clothes, and a hot meal!" 

She frowned at Raditz, who was counting Saiyans in the group, and kept coming back to himself as number five. "Yes, you, Raditz! You're coming home with us--you need a place to stay and I have plenty of space, and you're the only one who can fill in about half this story, so you damn well better come!" 

Goku looked intently at his older brother. "You're.. different. You're not like you were eight years ago." 

Raditz smiled. "I'm not the only who has changed--who would have mourned for Vegeta eight years ago? I was a fool and a bully back then--but we've already had this talk, haven't we, Kakarott?" 

"What do you mean?" Goku was guarded, calm. 

"Have you forgotten? A demon castle, you and Vegeta and a fine selection of your dead enemies?" 

"I thought that was a dream!" Goku marvelled. 

"Heh. Quite the dream, then--shared between two brothers, one living and one dead. A dream that brought peace to the one dead." There was a strange look on Raditz's face. 

"Yes, I do remember our talk.. brother." Goku smiled. He clapped Raditz on the shoulder. "Let's go home." 

"Nunk Rats come home, be fun all time?" Goten yawned sleepily, head resting on Goku's shoulder. 

"Yeah, kid, I'll be there--or maybe at Bulma's place." Raditz reached over and ruffled Goten's hair fondly. 

"Nan Bulma fun," Goten agreed. 

"And it's my job to make sure she stays that way, little one." 

"Huh?" Bulma interjected, distracted from her task of decanting the aircar capsule and packing. "What do you mean by that?" 

"I did promise Vegeta I'd keep an eye on you and the young prince and protect you as best I could. That promise doesn't go away just because I'm alive now." Raditz's tail twitched. 

Bulma looked a bit stunned as the implications sank in. "That means--" 

"That means you have a loyal Saiyan Royal Guardsman, my dear princess consort. Enjoy it!" Raditz grinned mischievously, tail switching. 

Trunks' eyes were wide. "Cool!" 

* * *

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER EPILOG


	13. Epilogue

## EPILOGUE

The only sound was the creak of the steering oar as the great black boat floated down the dark waters of the Stygian Nile. Her single black squaresail was furled; no breath of wind disturbed the river of the underworld. The shadow-cloaked steersman leaned but lightly against the oar; this stretch of the Twelve Hours of Night was calm and gently flowing. His sole passenger, the crown prince of an ancient dynasty, lounged against the gunwale, affecting a air of complete boredom while watching and listening, alert to everything around him. 

"Hmmm.. that's interesting," the Ferryman observed. Mighty thews flexed as the dark boatman swung the steering oar over. 

The prince dropped his air of boredom. Anything that interested the Ferryman, interested him. "What now?" 

"A new ghost in the Fourth Hour. He's hailing me for a pickup, too. Hmmph. Probably trying to avoid being eaten by those krjalk demi-gods that barbecue sinners along this stretch. Well, I'm not exactly on a regular schedule right now, so..." 

"What is so interesting about a new ghost in the underworld? Have people suddenly stopped dying since I left Earth?" 

"Hmmph. They stopped coming to *this* underworld about two thousand years ago--since anyone last followed the gods of ancient Khem, or Egypt as you foriegners call it. Noble, too, by the look of him." The Ferryman bared sharp teeth and tusks in his version of a smirk. 

The black boat's prow bumped gently against the bank; the ghost floundered awkwardly aboard. He wore tattered yellow robes and the charred remnants of a leopardskin cape; he had the high features and sharp nose that the prince had seen adorning every royal scuplture and tomb painting along the Twelve Hours. Unlike those impassive sculptures, this face was set in a scowl, and angry frustration flashed in his dark eyes. Something howled in the darkness beyond, and the Ferryman quickly sculled his boat off the bank, back into the current. 

"Took you long enough," the ghost snarled. "They nearly had me. Damn them all!" 

The Ferryman answered mildly, "Patience, they say, is a virtue. It serves me well enough. It is also said that beggars can't be choosers, and I think not that kindly Ra would have offered you a place on his barge. The stench of evil is on you, and methinks you avoid the Devourer only because Anubis cannot find one improperly laid to rest." 

The ghost glared at the Ferryman, and at his only other passenger. The dead prince regarded him calmly, thoughtfully. "The good Ferryman tells me that none have come to this underworld in over two millenia. Who are you, and why are you here now?" 

"Only Osiris may know my True Name, and I come here after five thousand years--I, who was a prince of Khem, Adept of Thoth, immortal, undying, master of spirits--I am brought low by the ignoble whelps of a bestial race." His face was terrible to see. "I know their names, and the names of their fathers, and from the Abyss I will curse them as only the dead can curse-- Such woe and grief will I bring on Gohan, son of Goku; Trunks, son of Vegeta; Bulma, consort of Vegeta and mother of Trunks; and Raditz, brother of Goku, that they will beg for death and curse the day of their birth. I will bring upon them--" 

"--Will you? I think not!" cried Prince Vegeta, as his hair turned to flaming gold. 

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> _**Disclaimer:** See [Credits](http://www.republicofnewhome.org/oldlair/writing/credits.html)._   
> _Copyright 2000 by Dragoness Eclectic_


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